The national surveillance cell of the Union Ministry of Health, which has been conducting surprise raids at diagnostic clinics to check female foeticide across the country, sealed 17 ultrasound machines of two leading hospitals, a nursing home and two clinics in the city on Saturday.

The machines were sealed because the hospitals, nursing home and clinics had not maintained records according to the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PcPNDT) Act.

The national team is touring Maharashtra and has already conducted similar raids in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mumbai before arriving in Pune. Varsha Deshpande, a member of the team, said Pune and Mumbai have the largest number of registered sonography machines and there should be a special team to monitor these. “We will suggest that separate teams are appointed for Konkan, western Maharashtra, Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai,” she said.

Pune city alone has 358 machines, while Mumbai has 1,500, Thane 310 and Navi Mumbai 150.

The central team that arrived in the city sealed nine ultrasound machines at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, five at Poona Hospital and Research Centre, and one each at Dr Bumb Nursing Home, Dr Sandhya Makeshwar’s clinic at Ramwadi and Samarth Diagnostic Centre at Chandan Nagar for not maintaining records as per the Act.

The four-member central team under the national monitoring and implementation committee was led by K Singh, director (PcPNDT) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The other members were undersecretary TJS Chawla, Ranbir Singh from the Woman and Child Welfare department and Deshpande, a member of the central supervisory board.

Singh said the hospitals and nursing homes had not maintained and preserved the records in the ultrasound department. “Form F, which is to be filled by the doctor giving details of a pregnant woman, is often incomplete and taken very casually,” he said.

“Important columns in the form were left out,” added Chawla. He said most places did not have a copy of the PcPNDT Act, and did not put up boards in the radiology section declaring prohibition of sex selection.

The team began the raids at 11 am at Dr Bumb Nursing Home, and clinics at Chandan Nagar before proceeding to Poona Hospital and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital.

The hospitals were taken by surprise and the authorities requested that at least one of the machines be released for emergencies. However Singh said that as per the act, as the license stands suspended, this could not be done. Dr R Sengupta, medical administrator of Poona Hospital and Research Centre said that she had five emergency cases and had to make alternative arrangements to cater to patients.

At Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, nine ultrasound machines were under one registration and so all were sealed. “The format was not followed, there were no signatures, and there was no copy of the Act,” said Deshpande. The team finished sealing the machines at 7 pm.

With the team having finished with Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka, Deshpande said that there would be one more location in Maharashtra before they proceed to the next state.