A simple set top box is helping prevent sex determination and female foeticide. Taking a cue from Jhajjar, which had the worst sex ratio among the districts of Haryana at just but staged a remarkable recovery in the past three years, the civil administration in Jind has now made it mandatory for all ultrasound labs in the district to install active tracking devices with their machines so that the details of the tests become available online to the Chief Medical Officer.
Though Jind does not figure in the list of the 12 districts of Haryana identified for concerted action through the > Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the district administration has introduced the scheme of active tracking of ultrasound machines to curb their misuse for sex determination tests and to improve the sex ratio.
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Deputy Commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi, who was instrumental in introduction of the scheme in Jhajjar earlier in 2011 during his posting there, said under the scheme all the recordings of the ultrasound tests are sent online to the Chief Medical Officer. So, this enables the administration to keep a keen eye on how the equipment is being used, what tests are being conducted and acts as a deterrent in its misuse.
Mr. Joshi said all the ultrasound machines in Jind would be covered under the plan. “In this scheme a set top box is put along with every ultrasound machine and the power supply to the ultrasound machine is routed through it. So both have to be switched on together. The set top box contains a GPRS-based SIM card which sends a message to the CMO and the Deputy Commissioner the moment it is switched on. It records the entire functioning of the ultrasound machine and sends a video in encrypted form to the CMO every day.”
The Deputy Commissioner said the doctors, who have to finance the cost of the box, also find it beneficial as they are able to fill up Form F, which is a mandatory requirement under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act online through this system. “Filling up this form manually is very tedious,” he said.
The scheme had been a great success in Jhajjar. Earlier this week while speaking at the National Thematic Workshop on Woman and Child Development in Panipat, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had mentioned how through a multi-pronged approach the government had been able to curb the menace of female foeticide to a great extent in Jhajjar. He said it had the overall lowest sex ratio of 782 at birth in 2011 but this figure reached 901 by December 2014.
Mr Joshi said in Jhajjar the system had covered all 39 ultrasound machines in the district and likewise all 52 machines in Jind have been brought under its purview.
“After the scheme was introduced in Jhajjar, the Rajasthan Government had ordered the installation of these set top boxes all over the State. Subsequently, Chhattisgarh has also shown an interest in the scheme,” said the officer, who recently made a presentation on it at a programme associated with the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao girl child scheme.
