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City intends action against illicit pregnancy clinics
By Cai Wenjun and Li Qian |
February 25, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI health officials reiterated yesterday that any clinics offering non-medical fetus gender determination and sex-selective abortions will face serious punishment.
They also said that unlicensed clinics will be shut down and their equipment used for illegal medical practices confiscated, with the staff facing criminal charges if injury is caused.
Songjiang District has uncovered more than 10 such clinics so far this year.
Officials note the low cost and easy operation of ultrasound machines and the resulting strong profits that unlicensed clinics can make in offering pregnancy services. It's difficult to catch them, they said, since they hide in the city's outskirts and operate secretly.
According to yesterday's Nanfang Daily, small clinics and agencies in south China's Guangdong Province have been found to test fetal gender through the easily purchased type-B ultrasound scans. In Guangzhou and Dongguan, the ultrasound scanners are easily accessible without proof of qualification, which has lured many private and unlicensed clinics into the illegal and lucrative business.
China has banned fetal sex-identification since 1994 because many parents in rural areas prefer boys and choose to abort the girls, thus causing a serious gender imbalance.
"The easy access to the type-B ultrasound machines is mainly responsible for the failure to stop the illegal fetal gender screening," lawyer Zhou Yuzhong said.
In a medical instruments shopping center in Guangzhou, type-B ultrasound machines are available for between 7,000 yuan (US$1,100) and 10,000 yuan.
Some sellers stressed there was no need to show a license or certificate even when told the buyers were unlicensed clinics preparing to do fetal tests. Buyers and operators of type-B scanners are required to have licenses in China, otherwise they are subject to being jailed on charges of illegal operation or illegal medical practices, Zhou said.
The Shanghai Health Bureau said the city has strict management on ultrasonic machines but noted it might be easy to buy both used and new machines from other provinces.
They also said that unlicensed clinics will be shut down and their equipment used for illegal medical practices confiscated, with the staff facing criminal charges if injury is caused.
Songjiang District has uncovered more than 10 such clinics so far this year.
Officials note the low cost and easy operation of ultrasound machines and the resulting strong profits that unlicensed clinics can make in offering pregnancy services. It's difficult to catch them, they said, since they hide in the city's outskirts and operate secretly.
According to yesterday's Nanfang Daily, small clinics and agencies in south China's Guangdong Province have been found to test fetal gender through the easily purchased type-B ultrasound scans. In Guangzhou and Dongguan, the ultrasound scanners are easily accessible without proof of qualification, which has lured many private and unlicensed clinics into the illegal and lucrative business.
China has banned fetal sex-identification since 1994 because many parents in rural areas prefer boys and choose to abort the girls, thus causing a serious gender imbalance.
"The easy access to the type-B ultrasound machines is mainly responsible for the failure to stop the illegal fetal gender screening," lawyer Zhou Yuzhong said.
In a medical instruments shopping center in Guangzhou, type-B ultrasound machines are available for between 7,000 yuan (US$1,100) and 10,000 yuan.
Some sellers stressed there was no need to show a license or certificate even when told the buyers were unlicensed clinics preparing to do fetal tests. Buyers and operators of type-B scanners are required to have licenses in China, otherwise they are subject to being jailed on charges of illegal operation or illegal medical practices, Zhou said.
The Shanghai Health Bureau said the city has strict management on ultrasonic machines but noted it might be easy to buy both used and new machines from other provinces.
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