The Radiology Welfare Affiliation India has demanded strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Strategies (Prohibition of Intercourse Choice) (PNDT) Act, 1994 concerning the operation by the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scan facilities.
Radiologists demanded ban on “unsupervised teleradiology for scans”, saying no scans must be reported with out an in-house radiologist. (HT Picture for illustration)
In a letter written to the Punjab well being minister, signed by 9 radiologists, they alleged that the “MRI and CT Scans are the new weapons of female foeticide”, whereas warning that trendy imaging expertise has made it frighteningly simple to find out foetal intercourse.
The letter mentioned that an MRI takes lower than 5 minutes to supply crystal clear photographs of foetal genitalia, with which even an untrained eye can establish the intercourse of the foetus.
The letter added that CT scans take underneath 2 minutes, with newer machines lowering radiation dangers, making them a most popular device for unlawful intercourse dedication. The radiologists alleged that a whole bunch of MRI/CT centres in Punjab function with none oversight, blatantly violating the PC-PNDT Act.
They claimed that there are not any “in-house radiologists and the technicians conduct scans unsupervised, while reports are generated remotely via unregulated tele-radiology networks”.
“This is not just negligence, it is an organised circumvention of the law”, they alleged, whereas mentioning, whereas ultrasound rules have tightened, MRI and CT scans have turn into the brand new backdoor for intercourse dedication. With prompt picture sharing, encryption, and deletion, these centres can function undetected except fast motion is taken, they warned.
The radiologists demanded that MRI and CT be introduced underneath full PC-PNDT enforcement, and these be handled at par with ultrasound, because the regulation was supposed to.
They demanded ban on “unsupervised teleradiology for scans”, saying no scans must be reported with out an in-house radiologist.
They claimed that in Punjab, quite a few diagnostic centres (having CT scan and MRI) are being run by non-medical graduates and technicians, with no in-house radiologists and no accountability in any respect.