Mumbai: A team of experts from the ministry of health and family welfare, New Delhi, and civic officials raided two infertility clinics in South Mumbai and sealed their unregistered sonography machines on Tuesday evening.
According to officials, the Malpani Infertility Clinic at Colaba was found to be functioning with two sonography machines, of which one was in litigation and the other unregistered. However, the one that was registered under the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act was missing from the clinic. Officials even sealed an unregistered sonography machine at Indu Clinic in Colaba.
"It is an offence under the PCPNDT Act to use unregistered sonography machines," said Varsha Deshpande of the state body monitoring the implementation of the Act.
"These clinics were found lacking procedural aspects," said Dr Asha Advani, in charge of family welfare, BMC.
The central team will be in the city for the next few days. "We will be conducting surprise checks on clinics to ensure they are adhering to proper documentation and not indulging in illegal sex-determination," said a team member who did not wish to be named. However, this is not the first time Malpani Clinic has been in the midst of controversy. The civic health department had filed a case with the chief metropolitan magistrate against the infertility clinic in 2003 for propagating banned sex determination techniques on its website.
Dr Anjali Malpani said the raids were just a way to harass them. "Under the Act, the clinic should be given a show cause notice, which we never got," she said. "We have also taken all the necessary approvals before purchasing the new machines in 2006. But if the civic authorities do not update their records, there is little we can do."
