Vijayawada, Jan. 8: A sessions court has upheld a sentence of rigorous imprisonment to two doctors for cheating childless women, reports our special correspondent.

Judge M. Chalapathi Rao recently upheld the conviction of Dr K. Ramadevi and radiologist K. Ramachandramurthi given by a lower court in 2003, only reducing the sentence to six months.

Dr Ramadevi and her doctor husband Eshwar V. Rajendra Prasad set up Asha Jyothi Santana Saphlya, a fertility clinic in Vijayawada, promising artificial wombs to gullible couples desperate for a child.

But Sitamahalakshmi of Kankkipadu town in the district, who had come to the clinic, caught the doctor on the wrong foot when after making her undergo various medical tests and surgeries at a cost of over Rs 1 lakh, the doctor said she would have to undergo an abortion. Suspecting foul play, Sitamahalakshmi consulted other doctors, who said she was not pregnant at all.

On her complaint, police laid a trap and caught them.

Several such clinics operate in Andhra Pradesh but since most of them function under the cover of providing healthcare, they escape legal action.