By IANS
Bhubaneswar : Concerned over female foeticide incidents in the state, the Orissa government has decided to constitute task forces in all its 30 district headquarters to check such cases.
The announcement by the state government follows the discovery of more than two dozen female foetuses in some places in Nayagarh district, some 100 km from here, over the past week.
Last week, police also busted fake medicine manufacturing units at Kantabanji town in Bolangir district, some 400 km from here.
The district level task forces will keep a close watch on illegal termination of pregnancy cases and circulation of fake medicine.
The district collectors would head the task forces, an official at the office of state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told IANS.
Both the task forces will have the district police chief and health chief as members.
A state-level monitoring committee headed by the state chief secretary, and with the home secretary, health secretary and secretary women and child welfare department as members, would also be set up, the official said.
The task force and the monitoring committee will sit from time to time to take stock of the situation.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Patnaik Wednesday evening. It was also decided to set up a round-the-clock control room in the health department at Bhubaneswar to respond to complaints, he said.
The task forces will set up separate squads to raid medicine shops and medicine manufacturing units to check the quality of drugs.
It would also conduct regular raids on private nursing homes and clinics to ensure that no illegal pre-natal diagnostic tests and illegal termination of pregnancies are done, the official said.