A few hundreds of doctors, all members of the Federation of Obstetric & Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) on Friday pledged never to reveal the sex of a foetus at a symbolic walk organised in the HITEX here.
The oath to ‘Save the Girl Child' and ‘Stop sex determination tests' was taken in the presence of Bollywood actor Mahima Chaudhary after she released a limited edition calendar on Day Two of the 54{+t}{+h} All India Congress of Obstetric & Gynaecology (AICOG) that started here on Wednesday. The star of the evening however, was with her three year-old daughter Ariana who took part in the function enthusiastically.
The actor recalled how she had asked her doctor about the sex of her child but was refused. She admitted though that she had always wanted a baby girl. She said the first and effective step required to stop female foeticide was inculcating a sense of acceptance among the male folk that could be achieved only by a massive awareness campaign.
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“Women are in no way inferior. Look at our President Pratibha Patil and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Just give a chance and we will prove our mettle,” she said, to applause. She said it was the man who decided if a girl should be kept or not. “We need to access the same kind of education and opportunities that boys have.”
Present at the function were AICOG-2011 organising secretary Shantakumari and group president, India Region Formulations of Lupin, the sponsor, Shakti Chakraborty.
They said awareness was the key to equalising the male-female sex ratio.
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