Salem doctor arrested for revealing sex of fetus

CHENNAI: The police on Thursday arrested a government doctor working in a primary health centre in

Thalaivasal

in

Salem

after health department officials caught her revealing the gender of fetuses to pregnant women in violation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.

The directorate of medical services used a decoy to trap the doctor.

Dr Dhamayanthi Rajkumar is the first person to be arrested for sex-determination under the

PCPNDT Act

, enforced to prevent female foeticide and stop the declining sex ratio.

“She has been booked under various sections of the act and her clinic and ultrasound machines sealed. She was operating from a secret room with a portable imported device,” said director of medical services Dr M R Enbasekaran. The health department is also considering disciplinary action against her.

Although 127 cases have been filed under the Act, no one has been arrested yet. Most people – doctors and quacks – booked under the act were released on bail. In June 2017, Dr Arun Dhandapani, an assistant surgeon at Sivagangai Medical College was caught revealing the sex of fetus to pregnant women. Another doctor from

Neyveli

has been debarred from practice. “But no one was sent to prison. We thought stringent punishment will send out a strong message,” Dr Enbasekaran said.

On Thursday, a team of officials from the directorate sent a woman, who was four months pregnant, to Madhura Clinic in Athur where Dr Dhamayanthi has been practising.

The woman was accompanied by two health department staff including a joint director.

“There were seven other patients inside the room. She was using an ultrasound that was smaller than a laptop, which was connected to a monitor. We caught her when she revealed the sex of the baby to our decoy,” said a senior health department official, who was a part of the raid.

Although she acted tough in the beginning, she told officials that she had imported the machine from China and has been screening pregnant women for a while. The women in her room were from different districts. She charged them Rs 6,000 each but did not give them any bills or reports.

Earlier this month, the department received a tip that Dr Dhamayanthi did sex-determination at her private clinic after duty hours.

On Wednesday, officials called her to fix an appointment for ultrasound.

“We used a sim card from Perambalur. She told us it would cost Rs 6,000 and offered to pick us up from the Athur busstand,” the official said.

The team took a woman from Perambalur at 6am and reached Athur busstand by around 11.30pm.

Two health officials posed as her attenders. She was caught red handed when she revealed the sex. The equipment has been seized.


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