KRISHNAGIRI: A government doctor was suspended and detained for inquiry along with a staff nurse after a team of health department officers, led by District Health Officer (DHO) G Ramesh Kumar, busted a sex determination and sex-selective abortion racket at Veeranam near Salem during a decoy operation on Tuesday night.
The doctor, Muthamizh, has been suspended upon the orders of the Attur DHO, sources said. She was revealing the sex of the foetus to three antenatal mothers with help of staff nurse Kalaimani when the team visited, they added.
DHO Ramesh Kumar said, “Acting on a tip-off, a decoy operation was conducted at Kunichi village near Tirupattur on Tuesday with the support of an antenatal mother from Krishnagiri district. The team went to Veeranam where Muthamizh, a doctor in Achankuttaipatti PHC, who runs a scan centre and clinic at Kolipannai bus stop, and her aide Kalaimani, staff nurse at Thedavur, were checking the sex of a foetus using a scanning machine. Both of them have been detained, further inquiry is on.”
The information was shared with Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar, Salem Collector R Brindha Devi. Chief Medical Officer of Vazhapadi Government Hospital Dr Ramesh Kumar also joined the team and seized a scanning machine.
According to Dr Ramesh, three antenatal mothers from Tiruchy, Namakkal, and Erode districts had come to the clinic, to find out the sex of their foetuses, having spent `15,000 each for the scan. A case has been filed, further probe is on.