SALEM: In a major crackdown on illegal medical practices, three persons including a doctor were arrested for allegedly revealing the gender of unborn children at a private hospital in Edappadi.
The arrested persons are now under interrogation. The case came to light when the district health department received a tip-off that a private facility, Aravind Hospital, near Vellandi Valasu on the Salem-Edappadi main road was carrying out gender determination scans in violation of the law.
Acting on this confidential information, senior health officials decided to carry out a discreet surveillance and trap the culprits.
On Monday, a special enforcement squad led by Joint Director of Health Services, Salem, S Nandhini, Deputy Director of Health Services S Soundammal and health official Yogananthan, entered the hospital and closely monitored the operations. The team found that Dr Kannan, a practising physician at the hospital, was found collecting hefty sums ranging from `15,000 to `20,000 from pregnant women to perform scans and disclose if the foetus was male or female.
Officials intervened with the help of local police and Dr Kannan was taken into custody along with two others—his wife Jyothi and assistant Mekanathan.
During the raid, officials also seized a large cache of incriminating material, including more than 80 high-end mobile phones and sophisticated scanning equipment used to facilitate the illegal operations. The hospital premises was also sealed. Further investigation is under way.