As many as 60 offenders were arrested for conducting illegal sex determination tests by the authorities and 14 sex determination machines sealed in past seven months, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister said in statement on 18th July.

During a drive conducted from November, 2018 to June, 2019, the health teams unearthed illegal operations in some of the ultrasound and scanning centres. As many as18 FIRs have been registered and 60 culprits arrested while 14 ultrasound machines sealed.

He said that the health department has further widened scope of its activities to nab the offenders who are secretly conducting sex determinations tests. The Health Minister said that working in this direction the state government has inked Memorandum of Understanding with an espionage agency and added that this agency has conducted 19 sting operations till now.

Health department has also appealed the public to support the government in nabbing such anti-social elements. He said that a reward of Rs 50,000 has also been announced for the informer who would give information of such sex determination tests being carried out at any scanning center. He said if FIR is registered against any erring ultrasound and scanning centre the decoy patient would also be rewarded with Rs one lakh.

The Minister said that in order to strike a fair balance in sex ratio, the health department would soon made it imperative for any pregnant mother to show her Mother & Child Security Card (Vaccination Card) whether she is going in private center or in government hospital for ultrasound test. He said that after this registration, a pregnant mother would be eligible for undergoing ultrasound test in government or in private hospital.