South Dinajpur conducts drives against prenatal sex determination

Balurghat: Initiative to conduct massive awareness drive in order to stop the illegal practice of prenatal determination of sex has been taken up in South Dinajpur.

The step has been taken up following a decrease in male-female ratio in South Dinajpur and the awareness drive will be carried out to check the illegal practice. According to the source, different NGOs will take part actively in the awareness campaigning.

Sukumar Dey, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) of South Dinajpur, said the state government wants to curb the menace of sex determination at any cost.

According to him, the move follows statistics that the number of girls in this district in respect to the number of boys is plummeting.

Notably, the district has a district hospital in headquarter, Balurghat, along with eight block hospitals located in each block, where the birth rate of girls is decreasing compared to that of boys.

As per 2011 census report in aspect to South Dinajpur, the average sex ratio stands at 956 girls to every 1000 boys. There were also reports of flouting the law against sex determination in private health care facilities and nursing homes.

"We are determined to stop the illegal practice of fetus determination. We will organise workshops in different parts of the district to make people aware through NGOs. Private facilities and nursing homes will also take part in it," Dey said.