Pre-natal sex determination thriving, thanks to quacks

Gurugram: A major reason why Gurugram has had a skewed sex ratio for a long time was the presence of doctors and clinics who indulged in illegal pre-natal sex determination, which subsequently resulted in abortion if there was a girl child.

Ever since the Haryana government began to take strict measures against doctors and the clinics, the number of such sex determination tests and abortions have come down drastically.

A major challenge, however, for the district health officials is the large number of quacks who have now began indulging in this nefarious activity.

Recently, the district health department, during a raid in Manesar, arrested a quack involved in this criminal act.

The profits from his business activities could be gauged from the fact that not only did he have the ultra sound machine, but had also hired various agents to lure potential customers.

Some of the previous raids exposed doctors, who have been operating with fake medical degrees.

Since 2015, there have been 30 raids conducted by the district health department, which have led to 54 arrests.

"Stringent action against the doctors, involved in killing of female foetuses, has resulted in the improvement being seen at the ground level. The major challenge for us now is to deal with various quacks that are now taking advantage of the situation in absence of medical experts," said a senior official from the district health department.

A reply to recent RTI query filed by Mohit Khatana had revealed that there are over 224 private clinics, being operated by quacks in Gurugram.

The number of clinics operated by fake doctors within Gurugram city, however, was not provided by the officials.

In Februaury, the sex ratio of Gurugram district was registered at 970 females to 1,000 males.

In January, the district had crossed the barrier of registering 950 females to 1,000 males.

Even though Gurugram is the richest district in Haryana, it has fewer women compared to men. The poor state of affairs in the past can be gauged from the fact that in 2014, there were 843 females to 1,000 males, while in 2012, there were 841 females to 1,000 males.