Union Health Minister JP Nadda has ordered formation of a committee to evaluate in a time-bound manner the Indian Medical Association’s five-point demands including amendments to the PCPNDT Act and the Consumer Protection Act. The committee comprises the Additional Secretary (Health), Joint Secretary (Law), Joint Secretary (Home) and Joint Secretary (Consumer Affairs). Besides, the committee will have three representatives of IMA and one from Medical Council of India (MCI).

The IMA has delivered a notice to the Prime Minister, Union Health Minister, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Home Minister and Union Law Minister disclosing their plan to observe a ‘Satyagraha’ on November 16. They also partnered with a social networking platform for doctors to initiate a petition in support of their demands. The petition garnered signatures of over 50,000 doctors in its support.

What is PCPNDT Act???

• Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to stop female foeticides and arrest the declining sex ratio in India. The act banned prenatal sex determination.
• The main purpose of enacting the act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques before or after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic technique for sex selective abortion.
• Sex selection is any act of identifying the sex of the foetus and elimination of the foetus if it is of the unwanted sex.