Healthcare clinic raided for allegedly carrying out sex determination tests

Suranjan Mishra Published On : May 24, 2023 at 7:27 PM

Cuttack: A healthcare clinic in Friends’ Colony locality of Cuttack City was raided today by the district Administration for allegedly conducting sex determination tests.

Acting on a directive of Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, a joint team comprising local police and Health department officials conducted a raid to ascertain if the illegal activity was being done or not. The clinic is being run by a doctor named Punyasloka Dash, for the past several months.

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“Dash is presently working in Sakhigopal community health centre (CHC) of Puri. As he owns the clinic, we are taking him to Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) for further investigation, which will be done by the higher authorities. Around ten women were present in the clinic and we have recorded the statements of five to six pregnant women,” health officer Manoranjan Pradhan said.

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On the other hand, Dr. Das refuted the charge saying it to be entirely false and baseless.

Worth mentioning, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to stop female foeticides and stop the declining sex ratio in the country. The Act banned prenatal sex determination. Every genetic counselling centre, genetic laboratory or genetic clinic engaged in the counselling or conduct of pre-natal diagnostics techniques, like in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with the potential of sex selection (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis) before and after conception comes under the preview of PCPNDT Act, 1994 and are banned.