E-Paper
Sex determination racket busted in SBS Nagar; 3rd in eight months
The ultrasound centre was operating illegally, as it was not registered with the district health authorities. Three persons have been arrested in connection with the raid.
SBS Nagar A joint health department from Moga and Jalandhar districts busted a sex determination racket, the third such instance since November 2020, at a private hospital in SBS Nagar on Thursday by arresting a woman doctor, Sunita, red-handed. Dr Sunita and two others, who acted as middlemen, Kulwant Kaur of Nurpur Bedi in Anandpur Sahib and Satnam Singh of Boothgarh in SBS Nagar have been arrested.
SBS Nagar civil surgeon Dr Gurdeep Singh said, “She ran a hospital by the name of Sunita Charitable Hospital. Teams from Moga and Jalandhar had got a tip-off and raided the hospital. They deployed a decoy patient, who paid ₹40,000 for the sex determination test.
“We have seized the ultra-sound machine and recovered the ₹40,000 paid to the doctor,” Dr Gurdeep said, adding that Sunita did not have a valid degree for medical practice, and was running the ultrasound centre illegally, as it was not registered with the district health authorities.
“Records of patients of surgical ward have been seized, bugt there is no record of doctors who operated upon the patients. We have recommended legal action against the accused and handed over all evidence to the police for further action,” Dr Gurdeep added.
Balachaur City SHO Gurmeet Singh said a case had been registered under relevant sections of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 and 420 (cheating) and 120-B of the IPC at Balachaur police station.
“We will investigate how many more patients had been tested at the centre and for how long had the racket been running, undetected,” the SHO added.
In November 2020, Dr Ujagar Singh held for allegedly conducting a sex determination centre at his facility Soori Hospital; in January this year, Bhupinder Singh Soori, son of Dr Ujagar, had been arrested red-handed, while conducting a sex determination test.
