Ban on fetal gender detection: DGHS submits guideline to HC
The national guideline adopted by the Directorate General of Health Services that bans the detection of gender during pregnancy has been submitted to the High Court.
Dr Tahmina Sultana, director of Primary Health Care at DGHS, submitted the guideline in a report to the High Court on Monday. In the report, the health directorate asked everyone, including hospitals, diagnostic centres and doctors, to adhere to the guideline.
The HC is expected to hold a hearing on the report today, said sources.
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The guideline is titled "National Guideline for the Prevention of Son Preference and the Risk of Gender- Biased Sex Selection, 2022".
DGHS says the purpose of the guideline is to create awareness for preventing the misuse of pre-natal diagnosis procedures and pre-natal diagnosis tests for determining the sex of the fetus at any time of pregnancy, and the abuse of infertility treatment for selecting the sex of the fetus.
Earlier, on 3 February 2020, the HC issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain as to why the detection of sex of unborn babies during pregnancy should not be declared illegal.
The court issued the rule during the hearing on a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan on 26 January that year.
Ishrat had also sent a legal notice to the secretaries of the health ministry, the woman and children affairs ministry and the social welfare ministry, seeking directives to stop tests at hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres that identify the gender of unborn babies.
