Pvt lab owner booked for unlawful tests at centres in Gurugram, Delhi

Officials said three centres of the private lab -- in Gurugram sectors 63 and 14, and Rohini in Delhi -- were allegedly involved in the offences.

The Gurugram police on Sunday booked five people, including the owner of a private lab chain, for allegedly conducting unlawful tests relating to pre-natal diagnostic techniques, including running regulated tests without necessary checks and employing unqualified persons for collecting and analysing samples. Health department officials also said that the collection centres of the lab was allegedly not registered and did not maintain any records of the tests.

The health department said a team of three doctors and a clerk -- constituted by Dr Virendra Yadav, civil surgeon, Gurugram -- investigated the lab’s alleged malpractices.

Officials said three centres of the private lab -- in Gurugram sectors 63 and 14, and Rohini in Delhi -- were allegedly involved in the offences.

Police said a case under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (common intention) and 120 B (conspiracy) and several sections of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of misuse ) (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, was registered at Sector 65 police station on Sunday. Deepak Kumar, station house officer of Sector 65 police station, said that this is for the first time that such a case has come to Gururgam police notice. “We have registered the case and suspects are yet to be arrested,” he said.

The health department said a team of three doctors and a clerk -- constituted by Dr Virendra Yadav, civil surgeon, Gurugram -- investigated the lab’s alleged malpractices.

The team sent a decoy patient to the lab which unveiled non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) -- a well-known genetic testing technique primarily meant for detecting genetic abnormalities in the foetus -- being conducted at the lab through their collection centres in Gurugram and Rohini in Delhi.

Such testing can only be carried out as per conditions and guidelines laid down in the PC-PNDT Act, including being registered under the Act. Additionally, the Act mandates that the test can be conducted only on women who have undergone two abortions and are above the age of 35 years. The health department official said that the decoy sent to the lab was only 26 years old who had undergone just one abortion in the past.

Medical officer at Patel Nagar urban primary health centre, Dr Umang, who goes by a single name, said that it is for the first time in the country that such a raid for NIPT was planned and executed successfully.

Dr Umang said that the labs were charging between ₹15,000-25,000 for the unlawful tests. “We received secret information following which a team was constituted and a decoy customer who was four months pregnant was sent to give her blood sample for conducting pre-natal diagnostic test on August 10 at the Sector 63 lab. The in-charge of this laboratory asked her to get ‘maternal blood for foetal DNA (NIPT)’ pre-natal diagnostic test, took her blood sample and charged ₹15,000,” she said.

Dr Umang said that on August 13, the victim received the test report on WhatsApp. “During enquiry, the team came to know that this sample collection centre has not fulfilled the requirement as per provision of PC-PNDT Act rules. During questioning, the in-charge revealed that after getting the blood sample, the same was sent to Sector 14 lab for further processing and later was sent to Rohini in Delhi,” she said.

During the enquiry, the investigating team found that the private lab chain in Delhi also did not maintain records as per the provisions under PC-PNDT Act, and were also in violation of several other conditions laid down by the Act.

The health department said such collection labs are running and working as franchises of the private lab chain.