Gujarat has become the first state in the country to make it compulsory for all doctors to submit Form F online, containing complete details of sonography test conducted on a pregnant woman. This will help in stricter implementation of Pre Conception Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act to help improve the skewed sex ratio in the state which is 886 girls per 1,000 boys in 0-6 age group.

Earlier, online filing of Form F was made compulsory in four districts of Maharashtra to curb under-reporting and non-reporting of sonography conducted on pregnant women.

Health commissioner P K Taneja told TOI that it will be made mandatory for doctors in all 26 districts of Gujarat to file Form F online. The department has also hired an agency to analyze the forms submitted online as well as to inform the officials about the doctors who are not submitting complete details about the ultrasound tests conducted by them on pregnant women.

Taneja said that this is one step forward towards ensuring a complete transparency amongst the doctors regarding the ultrasound tests conducted by them on pregnant women. The details will also help the authorities to know about the profile of women who are undergoing ultrasound tests, the number of children they have and whether the children are girls or boys.

It has been brought to the notice of the health officials that a number of doctors perform sex determination tests on the sly and reveal the sex of the child for a price. They do not officially record these cases so as to avoid attention.

"The software has inbuilt systems to tell the officials the average number of ultrasounds performed by a doctor so that the officials can be tipped off if there has been under-reporting of some sort", said the officials.