The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Monday submitted the national guideline to the High Court that bans the detection of gender during pregnancy.
The DGHS submitted the guidelines to the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque.
The guideline titled "National Guideline for the Prevention of Son Preference and the Risk of Gender- Biased Sex Selection, 2022" mentions no person, hospital, diagnostic centre, or laboratory can reveal the gender of a child in any writing or sign or in any other way.
Dr Tahmina Sultana, director of Primary Health Care at DGHS, submitted the guideline in a report to the High Court.
In the report, the health directorate asked everyone, including hospitals, diagnostic centres and doctors, to adhere to the guideline.
The policy includes
- No individual, hospital, diagnostic centre, or laboratory can disclose the gender of the child through any writing, sign, or other means.
- No advertising on this matter is allowed.
- The government ministries will provide training to doctors, nurses, family planning workers, and technicians about the negative consequences and will train them on ethics and professional conduct.
- Hospitals, diagnostic centres, and medical centres will preserve all data related to such tests
- Hospitals, diagnostic centres, and medical centres will promote messages about gender equality and the importance of girl children through digital and print media.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan represented the petition in court, while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta, represented the state.
Later, the court set Tuesday for a hearing on the policy.
On January 26, 2020, Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed a writ with the High Court seeking the necessary directives and an order to ban revealing the sex of a foetus.
On December 1, 2019, the lawyer sent a legal notice to the secretaries of the aforementioned ministries asking the three ministries to circulate directives within three days to government and non-government hospitals, diagnostic centres, and clinics, to stop tests that identify the sex of a foetus.
