Doctor jailed for illegal ultrasound machine

Nov 13 : A doctor in Punjab has been sentenced to three months’ rigorous imprisonment by a court for possessing an ultrasound machine without mandatory registration.

Punjab’s director of family welfare S.P.S. Sohal said Monday that the doctor, Parmod Gupta, of Kotkapura town in Faridkot district, 250 km from here, has also been fined Rs.1,000.

The court order follows violation of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT), 1994, by the doctor, under which keeping an ultrasound machine requires mandatory registration with the health department.

Ultrasound machines can be used for sex determination tests and Punjab already has an embarrassing sex ratio of fewer than 800 women per 1,000 men.

This is the sixth conviction of a doctor by a court after being found violating the PNDT Act.

In an earlier case, the medical registration of a doctor in Amritsar was suspended for five years while in other cases, the doctors were awarded prison terms and penalised. (IANS)