Doctors are practically fed up of the time they have to spend to upload the crucial form F from the government’s website that requires them to record the medical history of pregnant women. With the state government’s website not fully functional, gynaecologists and radiologists have no option but to fill the form manually.

“We are aware of the problems with the website,” admits Dr Uddhav Gawhande,State Appropriate Authority for implementing the PCPNDT Act (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse). The additional chief of the state family welfare bureau, however, points out that they have tied up with Tata Consultancy Services to develop a software. “It is being tested in the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation and based on their experience we will modify the software to be used locally here in Pune and other places in the state,” said Gawhande. Form F is considered an important tool of the Act , but filling it has always been problematic, said Dr Vaijayanti Patwardhan, in-charge of the Indian Medical Association’s PC-PNDT cell. In the past year, there have been several inspections which resulted in sealing of the ultrasound machines. Doctors did not fill the form properly or were unable to maintain records. Now till the government launches another software, we will train our doctors to manually fill the form, said Patwardhan.

Dr Vaishali Jadhav, appropriate authority for implementing the PC-PNDT Act in Pune Municipal Corporation too, admitted that while filling the Form F is mandatory as per the Act, the government software was not fully functional. “We have prepared our own software. However the state is planning to come out with another one and we have been asked to wait,” said Jadhav.