Medical Association to the Support of Doctors in the Sting Net

Patna: March 12, 2006

Coming out strongly in support of Patna's prominent gynecologists currently in the eye of the storm over a TV report accusing them of performing abortions on female fetuses, the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association and state Gynecological Society, on Sunday, said medical termination of pregnancy is allowed up to the first 20 weeks after a women conceives a child.

IMA state president G. K. Thakur and Gynecological Society chairperson Kusum Gopal Kapoor, while talking to reporters in Patna on Sunday, said that the so-called sting operation was part of an elaborate conspiracy to malign and humiliate certain prominent doctors. "MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) under the MTP Act is permissible under the current law for up to 20 weeks after conception. In certain conditions, MTP could be performed even in the advanced stage of the pregnancy," Kapoor said.

"The fact that the media failed to report the entire conversation between the doctor and the patient by selectively editing out certain portions of the discourse clearly indicates this was a well-hatched plan with the sole intention to tarnish the image of certain well-known gynecologists of Patna," Thakur said.

Health Minister in the Nitish government Chandra Mohan Rai, however, was not amused by the TV report that was aired last Thursday showing six Patna gynecologists agreeing to perform abortion on female fetuses.

"This is very disturbing and a social crime and must be condemned by one and all," Rai said saying if found guilty, the state would seek the cancellation of their medical licenses.