The district administrations in Mandya and Mysuru have stepped up their vigilance following police investigations that unravelled a prenatal sex determination and female foeticide racket rampant across Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysuru districts.
The Mysuru Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra told media persons in Mysuru on November 28 that a team comprising officials from the police, health, urban local body and AYUSH will be constituted to conduct spot inspection of the places which surfaced in the police investigation.
The District Health Officer has already submitted a report on the centre which was allegedly used for scanning but it has transpired that there was no activity in the premises since the last few months nor was there a board. Besides, the centre was not registered under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act, he said.
The district administration will also launch a ‘’clean up’’ drive by ascertaining the degrees and bonafides of medical practitioners to ensure that there are not quacks or those dispensing medicines on completion of some correspondence courses, said Mr.Rajendra. The tendency of ayurvedic doctors prescribing allopathic medicines was also a violation, he added.
The drive will cover all the wards in Mysuru City Corporation limits besides all villages, said Mr. Rajendra. With regard to the prenatal sex determination racket, the DC said a fact-finding team will also visit the centre associated with the racket to ascertain as to who was running it. In case the building has been rented out a case will also be booked at the owner for failure to ascertain if any illegal activity was going on and thus abetting the crime, said Mr. Rajendra.
Meanwhile, the Mandya DC Dr.Kumar said there were 55 registered scanning centres across the district and teams had been constituted right down to the gram panchayat level to inspect and ensure their compliance with the law. The district health officer of Mandya and other officials also visited the sugarcane field on Tuesday where the scanning centre was being run as per the police reports, said Dr.Kumar.
He said the Byappanhalli police was already investigating the case and he was also forming a committee at taluk level and village level for inspection drives.
‘’Committees are there at the district and taluk level which will keep inspecting the scanning centres It is done quarterly but additional random checks will be taken up’’, he added.
At the village level GP PDO, accountant and ASHA workers and community health officers will keep an eye. ‘’We are planning to conduct awareness drive in rural areas so that people come forward to give information, said Dr.Kumar.
