The officials of the Health department raided a private nursing home allegedly operating in Koraput’s Jeypore without any specialised doctor and seized an Ultrasonography (USG) machine.
The raid was conducted by a team comprised of the Additional Chief District Medical Officer, sub-collector and other officials.
The USG machine was seized at Gourishankar Nursing Home in Dolamandap Sahi of the town suspecting it to be used to illegally determine the gender of the foetus.
The seizure was part of the health department’s sudden raids on several nursing homes, clinics and hospitals in the Southern Odisha town. The team also verified documents and the ultrasound machine at the Koraput District Headquarters Hospital.
Speaking about the seizure, Koraput ADMO Nilamadhav Satapathy said, “The machine can be used to determine sex and abortion too. The nursing home did not have any competent authority to run this machine. This is not right. So we sealed the machine.”
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However, the nursing home owner, Prasanna Panigrahi denied any illegal activity on the premises. Speaking to reporters, he said, “I have had this USG machine for a long time. However, I cannot start the ultrasound service because of the scarcity of doctors. So there is no question of sex determination.”