Lucknow, July 15 (IANS) Health authorities in Uttar Pradesh have been directed to carry out sting operations against ultrasound and diagnostic centres to catch them in the act if they undertake banned sex determination tests. “The objective behind the move is to catch the doctors and other employees involved in sex determination tests red-handed,” Director General (Medical and Health) I.S. Srivastava told IANS Tuesday.

Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of all the districts will be involved in chalking out the strategy for the sting operations against the diagnostic and ultrasound centres involved in the malpractice.

Significantly, in UP alone there are over 3,500 ultrasound centres against the approved strength of 600 sonologists, according to a study by the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA).

Health authorities raided over 40 such centres during the last four days and sealed several illegally functioning centres in Lucknow, Barabanki and other districts of the state, officials said.