Sex determination done in Karnataka centre

The prime accused in the Sangli foeticide case, Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure, would send women to a sonography centre he owned in a village on the Maharashtra-karnataka border to find out the sex of the foetus. He would then do the illegal abortions in the middle of the night to avoid suspicion, investigation officers said, revealing more details of the case on Wednesday.

Officials said no ultrasound machines were found at the Mhaisal-based Bharti Hospital, where the illegal abortions were done. Pregnant women who sought his help to abort female foetuses were first sent to Kagwad, a village 7.5km away, near the Maharashtra-karnataka border. “He owned both centres and would perform the surgeries in the middle of the night. He said he used a common drug to abort the foetus,” said an investigating officer. Experts said the drug can abort the foetus or cause premature birth or birth defects, along with a number of other medical complications, including uterine rupture if the woman is over eight weeks of pregnancy. “We are investigating if more mothers were killed by this act of severe medical negligence,” said a state public health department official, who is investigating the case. The incident has also caused state officials to take stringent measures against all alternate medicine doctors. Dr Sanjay Salukhe, Civil Surgeon of Sangli Civil Hospital, said they are forming a district-level integrated functional unit comprised of officials from health, revenue and police department. “We are going to check every single medical establishment right from general practitioners to private hospitals and register every single facility. While health official will check the medical records of the establishment and the doctors, at the same time the revenue department will check if the establishment is licensed one. Police officials will help us track the criminal offences if any, committed by the doctors or staff members,” said Dr Salunkhe. Ravindra Khebudkar, municipal commissioner of Sangli-miraj-kupwad Municipal Corporation said they have planned inspections to check if any doctor, working for private or public hospital, is involved in the sex determination racket. “After this incident, we have decided to strengthen our two maternity homes at Miraj and Sangli so women don’t have to depend on private hospitals. We will train more women doctors for better care,” said Khebudkar.