An illegal prenatal scanning facility, where sex determination tests and selective abortions were being performed by a quack in Tiruvannamalai, was shut down on Tuesday.
The facility on Avulkara Street in the town was being run by a woman called Ananthi, who reportedly had studied only up to 8th standard.
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A team led by Joint Director of Medical Services N. Rajendran and a PCPNDT Act squad from Chennai conducted a raid on the facility based on a tip-off, and found six pregnant patients waiting there for scans.
Enquiries revealed that they were there to determine the sex of their foetus. However, Ananthi, whom the team managed to round up later, denied the charges.
There was a locked room in the building and she claimed that she did not have the key as her husband was using the room.
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The team then broke open the room in the presence of Tiruvannamalai Tahsildar Panneerselvam and found an ultra sonogram machine, beds, medicines used for abortion, forceps and gloves.
Manual abortions likely
“Forceps and gloves being found there, apart from medicines used for abortion, suggest they might have been carrying out abortions manually there,” Dr. Rajendran said. That would have involved a gruesome process of pulling out the foetus from the womb.
In police custody
Ananthi has been handed over to the police.
Assistant director, GG Hospitals, Priya Selvaraj said that for very early medical terminations of pregnancies, drugs can be used under medical supervision.
“In case surgical intervention is needed in the first trimester, dilatation and evacuation can be performed. Labour can also be induced in the second trimester using drugs. In the event of surgical intervention, in case the mother's life is in danger, then a mini C-section, called a hysterotomy, is performed. Forceps are not used in any of these procedures,” she explained.
The facility was run by a quack and selective abortions were allegedly
carried out