Punjab Health Minister Urges Action on Sex Ratio, Combats Female Foeticide

In order to further improve the sex ratio in the state, Punjab Health, and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Balbir Singh on Wednesday directed the health officials to create a network of the ASHAs, Anganwari workers, Multi-Purpose Health Workers (M.P.H.W.), Community Health Officers etc so that they must keep track of a pregnant women in villages throughout her gestation period till delivery.
The Health Minister was addressing a two-day capacity-building workshop on the PC-PNDT Act organized by the Health and Family Welfare Department here at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA). District Family Welfare Officers, District Attorneys and District PNDT coordinators from all the districts of Punjab participated in this workshop.
Emphasizing the need to keep special focus on couples— having two or three living daughters— vulnerable to this illegal act, he directed the health officials to keep track of a pregnant woman so that any unlawful termination of pregnancy could be in the notice of the health department and such abortion must be investigated thoroughly as Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has been striving hard to improve the skewed sex ratio.
Underlining the pivotal role being played by the women in sustenance of society, Dr. Balbir Singh said, “Without women, human society cannot even exist. Women are a stronger sex as it is the only woman, who not only can successfully manage a family but can also excel in any career outside the walls of a home.