New Delhi, Jan. 23: A government inspection team has sealed four ultrasound clinics in Bhubaneswar and one in Nayagarh for alleged violation of rules governing the 18-year old law that bans the disclosure of foetal sex after prenatal diagnostic testing.

The Union health ministry said today that the National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) sealed five clinics in the two districts after surprise inspections on January 19 and 20, during which it detected unauthorised use of ultrasound scans and flaws in mandatory documentation.

Under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, passed in 1994, only authorised doctors can provide ultrasound scanning services and ultrasound clinics should maintain records of each pregnant woman who is offered scans. The PNDT is intended to stop female foeticide, which, many doctors believe, has burgeoned since the arrival of ultrasound scans.

In Nayagarh, the inspection team sealed Rashmi Diagnostics because the proprietor, a BHMS doctor, was not authorised to perform the ultrasound scans, and the authorised radiologist registered with the clinic was “unwell and mentally unfit”.

The NIMC sealed the ultrasound machine at the Hi-Tech Diagnostic Centre in Bhubaneswar after it seen that three unqualified doctors were performing ultrasound scans. The inspection team also found that 122 forms relating to ultrasound scans performed had not been signed by doctors.

The panel also sealed the ultrasound clinic at Bhubaneswar’s Maa Shakti Hospital, which was operated by a government doctor not registered with the hospital. The NIMC suspected under-reporting of scans in the hospital as the number of PNDT-mandated forms was much lower than the hospital’s caseload.

The health ministry said ultrasound clinics at the Life Express Diagnostic Centre and the Sanjeevani Medicare Hospital in Bhubaneswar were also sealed after the inspectors found unauthorised doctors assigned to ultrasound machines and PNDT-mandated forms left unsigned by doctors.

The forms are intended to provide a meticulous record of pregnant women who undergo ultrasound scans, with information about their previous children and residential addresses.

The Central panel for implementing the PNDT Act chaired by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had in June 2011 decided to empower the NIMC to act against clinics found to be violating provisions of the Act.