Jaipur: A sonography machine found in an agricultural field in Govindgarh in Jaipur Rural district on Dec 3 was imported from China, with counterfeit registration papers of state's health department, officials said Tuesday. A copy of the bill of import from 2019 was found with the equipment, despite portable sonography machines being banned since 2014.
The discovery of the Chinese machine has caused concern within the health department. While registered machines are monitored to prevent illegal foetal gender determination, unregistered devices pose a challenge. For checking misuse of any kind of sonography machines, the department regularly inspects sonography centres to ensure compliance with PCPNDT Act regulations.
Health department will seek a police investigation into such unregistered devices, as similar equipment could be being operated elsewhere in the state, officials said.
A PCPNDT coordinator had received an anonymous internet call that alerted about the abandoned sonography machine. "Who placed the machine on the agricultural field, who the was anonymous caller, who imported the machine from China, who is the owner of the machine, all these questions need to be investigated. We will take help of police in this regard. We will file an FIR," Dr Saurabh Arya, deputy chief medical health officer, Jaipur (Rural), told TOI.
Health department is transferring the case to law enforcement as it falls outside their investigative jurisdiction.
Dr Arya added, "Portable sonography machines are banned in the state as they could be transported to any other place and be misused for conducting tests to determine gender of the foetus."