The Haryana government Thursday announced that the registrations of 300 medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) centres in the state have been cancelled.
The closed centres had allegedly failed to share and update information concerning its gynaecologists and abortion data, among others.
In a move ordered by a special task force formed to curb female foeticide, out of 1,500 such centres operating in Haryana, 23 were also issued show-cause notices this week after raids. The notices warned of impending closures if violations were not addressed.
Dr Virendra Yadav, convener of the task force, stated that over the past two months, the body has ensured the filing of First Information Reports (FIRs) against 17 online sellers of MTP kits, which are often misused for illegal abortions.
Yadav explained that the crackdown has led to significant measures on the administrative side as well. The nodal officer for enforcing the anti-sex determination law in Hisar district has been suspended, and show-cause notices have been issued to senior medical officers (SMOs) overseeing 12 community health centres (CHCs) in Nahar (Rewari), Tosham (Bhiwani), Danoda (Jind), Kunjpura (Karnal), Tauru (Nuh), Tigaon (Faridabad), Bhattu Kalan (Fatehabad), Ateli (Mahendragarh), Uklana (Hisar), Baropal (Fatehabad), Nissing (Karnal), and Ladwa (Kurukshetra).
These notices flagged low sex ratios in these areas, with the warning that unsatisfactory responses would lead to charge sheets. The SMOs of three CHCs with the lowest sex ratios face imminent chargesheets, while nodal officers in five districts – Charkhi Dadri, Rewari, Rohtak, Gurgaon, and Faridabad – have been replaced due to persistently poor sex ratio figures.
Further, the civil surgeon of Hisar is preparing to file a criminal case and FIR against one Usha, identified as a middle person facilitating illegal abortions. In another case, the civil surgeons of Rohtak and Sonipat have registered FIRs regarding a case wherein a mother of two girls was coerced into an abortion. Investigation in the case is going on, with authorities questioning both the family and the doctor to ascertain the circumstances.
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Yadav emphasised that the Health Department has issued clear directives to intensify the vigil over MTP centres, particularly those performing abortions on women with two daughters.
Such centres will face regular inspections, and any centre found complicit in female foeticide will be shut down immediately.
Show cause notices issued to MTP centres must be resolved promptly, and gynaecologists involved in illegal practices risk losing their licenses, he added.
The State Drugs Controller has been tasked with compiling a list of wholesalers and stockists of MTP kits, restricting their sale exclusively to registered MTP centres. Unregistered In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) centres are also under scrutiny, with orders to close those found violating regulations or showing skewed sex ratios indicative of malpractice.
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To strengthen grassroots monitoring, the Health Department has assigned Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) to urban wards under Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs) and Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (UAAMs) to collect data on births. This initiative aims to track the sex ratio by recording the birth of boys and girls accurately.
The department has identified 62,000 pregnant women with one or more daughters, reaching out to them via the Health Department’s helpline (104) to raise awareness against female foeticide.
A proposed incentive scheme will offer ASHAs Rs 1,000 for each successful delivery of a girl child to mothers with more than two daughters.
Collaboration across departments, including Women and Child Development and Panchayati Raj, is amplifying efforts to promote the message of saving and educating daughters, the health department said.
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Haryana’s sex ratio at birth has improved marginally from 910 in 2023 to 911 in 2024.