CHENNAI: Notwithstanding raids, inspections and arrests, cracking the whip on quacks, particularly those involved in illegal abortions, is a tough task, officials who conducted a drive recently, say.
For instance, the State Inspection and Monitoring Committee of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Services has so far registered 112 cases under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. However, of these, officials have clinching evidence only in three cases of female foeticide.
The most challenging part of the entire exercise is cracking down on illegal scan centres. This is because there is a possibility of the suspects escaping the law unless the charge is proved. Hence, more time is required for planning and information gathering on these clinics.
One of the rare successes was in Tiruvannamalai where an inspection party managed to catch T Anandhi (48) red-handed. When officials reached the spot, there were five women who were administered pills for abortion. Three of the women had their foetuses expelled, which officials had preserved in the pathology lab to be produced in court as evidence.
“This is crucial evidence for us, which we miss in most cases. The accused should be caught in the act during our raid, or else it is waste of our efforts. This raid was planned for nearly three months,” Kamala Kannan, Superintendent at DMS, said.
In the second case, it was not a quack, but a qualified medical practitioner, Megala of Namakkal, who was caught when she was bargaining for extra money from the decoy that officials had sent.
The last successful case was from Neyveli, where a doctor named Ramachandran had given abortion pills to a woman after checking the gender of the foetus. When the team landed there, there was another girl hiding in a room, whose husband said they wanted to abort the girl child foetus as they already had two daughters.
Besides these three cases, all that officials could do in others was just to register a case for non-maintenance of records, a considerably minor charge.
A key element to make the raids successful is finding a woman as decoy to be sent to the scanning centre. This is a very difficult part as officials have to convince the woman, husband and family, and have the additional responsibility of ensuring her safety.
The committee comprises a joint director, superintendent and deputy superintendent from DMS, and also a radiologist for technical assistance.
“Raids are planned secretly. After the committee receives a complaint, it would verify the information and monitor the alleged illegal activities. We will do a background check of the accused. Raids should be conducted at the right time to catch them while in the act. Otherwise, it may backfire on us,” said Senguttuvan, Director of Medical Services.
As important these drives are, there should be a change in society’s outlook towards girl children, he said. “Awareness should be created among women.”