Training must for MBBS docs doing sonography: SC
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stayed a Delhi High Court order striking down the provision of a six-month training course under the Pre Conception- Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Rules.
The stay order means that MBBS doctors now will have to complete the six-month course before they are allowed to conduct ultrasounds.
“The Delhi High Court had said that the six-month training was ultra vires of the Government of I ndia under t he PC-PNDT rules and must be notified by the Medical Council of India that governs medical education in the country,” said Shri Venkatesh, advocate representing the India Radiological and Imaging Association in the case.
In 2014, the government of India had come up with the sixmonth training rule under the PCPNDT rules to standardise the medical education received before performing radio-diagnosis like ultrasound.
“Currently, several MBBS doctors perform ultrasound after working with a qualified radiologist. So, the PC-PNDT Act made provisions for a competency test, which ann MBBS doctor needs to clear in three attempts. If they fail then they have to undergo the six month training from state recognised institutes,” said OP Bansal, president of the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA).
The judgment is likely to have a huge impact. “Nearly 80% of all ultrasound machines in this country are run by MBBS doctors without any post graduation in radiology,” said Dr Bansal.
In comparison, only 20% of Delhi’s doctors performing ultrasound haven’t received training, according to government data. This translates into roughly 400 doctors needing to take the competency test or training.
Illegal ultrasounds are one of the biggest contributors towards declining sex ratio in India. “It is the illegal ultrasounds that lead to sex selective abortions. For every abortion at least two such tests are done for confirmations. Many people still see it as a service and not a crime making it rampant in several parts of the country,” said Sabu George, an activist who has been campaigning against foeticide for more than two decades.
The child sex ratio of India fell from 927 girls per 1,000 boys in 2001 to 919 girls for 1,000 boys in 2011, according to census data.
In fact, data collected by IRIA through RTIS to all state governments had shown that in 87% of all cases of illegal sex determination in 2016, the doctor was not a trained radiologist.
The Delhi government in September last year had already selected 12 medical colleges – public and private – which will impart the six months training to postgraduate students. But it could not be officially started because of petitions pending in the Supreme Court.