TN health dept to conduct raids to curb prenatal sex determination

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu health department will conduct raids on scanning centres engaged in prenatal sex determination in the state.

The move comes after the police arrested four people in Dharmapuri district on charges of prenatal sex determination.

According to police, the four conducted a sex determination tests from a residence using scan machine. A woman named M. Sakkammal alias Pushpavathy (53), considered the kingpin of the racket was arrested along with her accomplices, S. Kaviarasan, Iyyappan and Manoj Kumar.

The health department, according to sources, has constituted a special team in all the districts of the state.

Health department sources told IANS that the quacks were charging Rs 8000-10,000 per sex determination test and in remote areas of the state there are centres that conduct ten such tests a day.

In March 2022, a quack Sukumar and his accomplice Vediyappan were arrested in Tirupattur district for running an illegal scan centre. The health authorities had conducted a surprise raid in the centre and found that the quack was using a portable scan machine and pregnant women from nearby districts were arriving in his clinic to determine the sex of the fetus.

Dr M. Idaykani, Gynecologist and former Principal of a medical college in Tamil Nadu told IANS, "The society is the cause of this and girl children are not welcomed even these days in some villages of the state. Sex determination is not done for curiosity, its to make it doubly sure that the fetus is a boy. There are instances of the fetus being aborted if it's a girl and strict action from the government is the need of the hour to curb such cases."

She said that there has to be a mechanism in place wherein the health department and police conduct joint raids in suspected centres. The retired gynecologist said that Primary Health Centres are a major source of information on such centres as being at the micro level, the staff at the PHC can track such centres and report to the higher authorities in health department to curb this menace.