Against the backdrop of detection of illegal sex determination racket in Solapur and with rampant cases of sex determination in Kolhapur using a Made in China portable, unregistered sonography machine, Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) plans to take action against the erring doctors based on the Bombay High Court mandate of imposing graded punishments on persons convicted as per Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.

PCPNDT Act aims at preventing pre-natal sex determination. The families go in for sex determination following regressive social practices like preference for male child.

The intensity of the problem can be gauged from the health department's estimates that considering the average expected sex ratio of 952 and the child sex ratio of 883 in the 2011 census, Maharashtra may have seen around 4,68,680 female foeticides between 2001 and 2011, including 30,116 in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry has also set up a committee to amend the PCPNDT rules with reference to record keeping by the radiologists. This was following radiologists' nation-wide protest subsequent to sentencing of a Pune based radiologist for an year’s imprisonment for not maintaining proper records in contravention to PCPNDT Act.

The radiologists have called for changes in the PCPNDT rules with reference to record keeping so that rules governing it could be made more practical and compliant friendly. The radiologists have argued that PCPNDT rules are stringent warranting equal punishment for sex determination and clerical errors.

The office bearers of Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) have held meetings with the Union health minister J P Nadda and proposed to change the PCPNDT rules with reference to record keeping. A final report on the matter is however awaited from the government constituted Central Supervisory Board.

IRIA also argues that PCPNDT Act also needs major amendments and has proposed a set of amendments which requires Parliament's nod.

Radiologists argue that the current PCPNDT Act entails maintenance of records offline and online which is a cumbersome exercise.