Child sex ratio in Vizag on decline

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, March 1, 2013: While the child sex ratio of Vizag as per the latest 2011 population Census has dropped to 959 girls per 1000 boys compared to the figure of 976 girls per 1000 boys of 2001 Census data. Curiously the district medical and health department has not booked even a single case this year under Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic (Prevention of misuse) Techniques Act, (PC&PNDT Act).

The district medical and health department officials’ boast of conducting around 100 decoy operations, on many ultra sound scanning centres in Vizag, and have not found any violation.
There are around 60 to 70 ultra sound scanning centres, in the district, run officially and more than 30 unauthorised centres.

“The figures say it all. But unfortunately the officials say that scanning centres doesn’t conduct sex determination tests. The fact is that many scanning centres conduct these tests clandestinely,” said a social activist, J.V. Ratnam.

Though an advisory committee came into force, not many meetings were held until now. The advisory committee has the collector as its chairman, the DM& HO as its convenor and a paediatrician, radiologist and two social activists as its members, who have powers to conduct checks on scanning centres. Forget the checks the advisory committee meetings has become a rarity. Since the last seven years, it was only three to four times such meetings were held.

“We have conducted around 100 decoy operations in the last six months on these scanning centres. We have not found any violations. No centre is conducting the sex determination tests fearing action from us. However, we will conduct more such decoy customer operations in rural tracts too,” DM&HO, R Syamala told this correspondent.

Sometimes, parents abandon and also resort to killing of girl child, immediately after the birth, might be one of the prime reasons for the fall in the child sex ratio in Vizag, added another official of the health department.