State panel slams Silent Observer tech

Health Ministry's pet project to track illegal sex determination tests in the state is expensive, not very effective and not tamper-proof, says draft report of the committee, which is in MiD DAY's possession

Even as a court case is raging between the state government and certain radiologists over a technology that tracks pregnancies through sonography machines, MiD DAY has learnt that not all government officials themselves are convinced about this tracking mechanism. The technology, known as Silent Observer, which has been developed by a Pune-based company and was used in Kolhapur district for the first time as a pilot project, is embedded in a sonography machine. The machine then feeds data such as name, address and the history of childbirth of every pregnant woman along with radio images of the ultrasound to the main server installed at the district collector's office.

This is not it: The document advises against installing theu00a0 machines as
the technology has too many drawbacks. Represention pic

Many states have implemented this technology after Kolhapur and officials in Maharashtra have been contemplating implementing it uniformly across the state. Dr Suresh Gupta, additional director, State Family Welfare Bureau, said a committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr Prakash Doke, executive director of Maharashtra State Health Systems Resource Centre, to assess the feasibility of doing so. "The committee has submitted its reports to the health secretary. I don't know the exact contents but they said the project isn't very feasible," said Gupta.

Failure?
Even as the health secretary is yet to make the contents of the report public, MiD-DAY has a copy of the draft report. The 11-page document clearly advises against installing the Silent Observer machines as the technology has too many drawbacks and very little working in its favour. The report states that the machine is not tamper proof as it has an on/off button and can be switched off at time of use. The evidence collected may not stand in a court of law as the images from machine are stored on a pen drive and can be tampered with.

u00a0"The report clearly states that despite harping about its effectiveness, the state hasn't filed a single court case based on evidence from Silent Observer. There is no evidence to show that numbers of F forms, or forms with data of pregnant women, are also being maintained better because of this technology," said a senior official from the directorate of health services. Radiologist Dr Jignesh Thakker, who has approached the High Court against the implementation of Silent Observer said, "I cannot give details as the matter is sub-judice. However, we are on record that this machine is infringing on patient rights and confidentiality." Incidentally, this is also a point made by the committee in its report.