Under the directions of Health and Family Welfare Minister Arti Singh Rao, the weekly meeting of the State Task Force (STF) for Improving Sex Ratio in Haryana was held under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sh. Sudhir Rajpal here today. The meeting focused on intensifying efforts to curb illegal abortions and further improve the state's sex ratio under the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign.
The meeting highlighted the recent success of government initiatives: Haryana’s sex ratio improved to 904 till July 7 this year, up from 903 in the corresponding period last year. The Additional Chief Secretary emphasized the need for stringent enforcement against illegal abortions, instructing officials to take strict punitive measures, including revoking the licences of doctors found complicit.
In one such case, two nursing homes were sealed in Nuh district over illegal abortion practices. Further, all Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) have been asked to take action against BAMS doctors and quacks engaged in illegal abortion activities and submit a report every week.
Officials informed that consistent field-level efforts have led to a noticeable rise in birth registration figures for June as compared to May. To further strengthen the drive, the Additional Chief Secretary directed senior officers to collaborate with ASHA and Anganwadi workers to identify and register unregistered children, particularly in slum and low-income areas of Palwal, Nuh, Gurugram, and Faridabad.
The goal is to complete all pending registrations within one month. In a parallel effort to curb illegal practices, the ACS instructed CMOs to initiate reverse tracking of abortions conducted upto 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The aim is to identify the medical practitioners involved in such procedures and initiate strict action in cases of violations. A comprehensive procedure for reverse tracking has already been shared with all CMOs. Regarding the regulation of IVF centres, the task force decided that couples with one or two living female children seeking another child through IVF must obtain prior permission from the District Appropriate Authority.
The meeting was also informed that due to an intensified crackdown on illegal Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) centres, around 500 such centres have been shut down across the state. This has also led to a significant decline in legal MTPs over the past two months.
The Woman and Child Development Department shared that awareness campaigns under the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, initiative are being actively carried out in public parks, and telecom companies are being engaged to disseminate the message through mobile alerts.
Secretary, Health Department and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Sh. Rippudaman Singh Dhillon, and senior officers of various departments were present in the meeting.