Prevent misuse of technique in female foeticide: President

NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Devisingh Patil Friday stressed the need to prevent misuse of diagnostic technology in female foeticide calling it detrimental to the society.

“An aspect that needs attention is the prevention of diagnostic tests conducted for pre-natal detection of abnormalities of a baby, from being misused for the purpose of pre-natal gender determination, which can lead to female foeticide,” the president said after inaugurating the National Conference of the Indian Radiologist and Imaging Association.

“We have laws and legal provisions that specially prohibit medical practitioners from disclosing the gender of the foetus. It is very important that all medical facilities, Doctors and Radiologists, adhere to this, so as to prevent incidents of female foeticide, a phenomenon that is a disgrace to society and is a social evil,” she added.

Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi meanwhile, stressed on caution in utilization of medical imaging examinations and not expose patients to unnecessary radiation.

“Imaging professionals must work to reduce the radiation dose as much as reasonably achievable, to seek accreditation of imaging facilities with careful attention to radiation dose monitoring and control, and to participate in dose registries that will allow imaging practitioners to benchmark their dose levels with peer institutions,” he said.