Indian doctors will join government and non-governmental organisations in their fight against female foeticide and sex-determination tests in the country, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said yesterday.
"The IMA has declared that no medical profesionals would involve themselves in this heinous crime directly or indirectly," said IMA hononary general secretary Dr Prem Aggarwal.
He added that the association had informed its members that doctors practising sex determination tests faced possible expulsion from the medical profession.
Medical officials say doctors are increasingly misusing ultrasound and other medical tests to determine the sex of unborn children at the request of parents. This, they said, had led to an increase in the number of female foeticides or killing of female foetuses in the womb in India since the early 1990s.
In 1994, Indian law ruled that informing parents of the sex of their unborn child was illegal, but Dr Aggarwal says the practice is nontheless widespread.
"We are not really able to use the law to curb foeticide because it is well within the law to have an abortion within 12 weeks," Dr Aggarwal said. "It is really most important that we work with the medical profession to stop sex-determination tests."
IMA National President Dr V.C. Patel said this was the first time the organisation was involving itself in a public awareness programme on female foeticide.
"According to non-governmental organisations, over two million female foeticides are reported every year. It is just the tip of the iceberg. We doctors are part of the crime," he added.