Recovery of Foetuses from Garbage Creates Panic in Bangalore

The recovery of several foetuses from a garbage dump here has created a scare that female foeticide may be rampant in the country's IT capital.

Doctors at the government Victoria hospital where the foetuses were sent for examination however said Monday that six of the recovered foetuses were male and one was female.

Initially it was suspected that there might be 21 foetuses in the gunny bags, which also contained hundreds of used syringes and other medical waste. Rag pickers found the foetuses Sunday night and soon the police were informed.

State Health Minister R. Ashok and Women and Child Welfare Minister H.K. Kumaraswamy visited the Victoria Hospital Monday morning to talk to the doctors who had conducted the examination of the foetuses.

Ashok told reporters that all private hospitals in the city will be put under a scanner to check whether foeticide was going on in the IT capital and action would be taken against those indulging in it.

He said the government would order a comprehensive enquiry into the recovery and punish the guilty.

The doctors told Ashok that the foetuses were more than a year old and must have been used for study purposes by medical students.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the state women's commission Pramila Nesargi who visited the spot from where the foetuses were found said initially the police were reluctant to register a case but did so on her insistence and sent the foetuses to the hospital for examination.

Source-IANS
LIN/J