The Health Department on Friday sought cooperation from rural medical practitioners and medicine shop operators to improve the declining sex ratio in village under Sirsa district. A meeting of rural medical practitioners (RMPs) and medical store operators, chaired by SMO Dr Sumit Jain, from villages under the Odhan Community Health Centre (CHC) and nearby PHCs was held in Odhan.
Addressing the gathering, Jain expressed concern over the worsening sex ratio in villages and appealed to RMPs to support awareness campaigns against female foeticide. He said such campaigns could not succeed without public participation and added that rural practitioners had regular contact with families and could play an important role in spreading awareness.
Jain warned medical store operators and practitioners against involvement in any illegal activities affecting the sex ratio, stating that strict action would be taken against anyone found violating the rules. He said ASHA workers and anganwadi and saheli teams were maintaining records of pregnant women in rural areas and the department was closely monitoring the situation.
According to January to April 2026 data shared by the Health Department, the Jalalana, Odhan and Panniwala Mota villages had reported highly alarming sex ratios. Jalalana recorded 222 girls per 1,000 boys, while Odhan and Panniwala Mota reported 412 and 455 girls per 1,000 boys, respectively.
Officials said they were keeping tabs on these villages in view of suspected irregularities. At the same time, some villages showed major improvement. Nuhianwali village, which had reported poor figures in 2025, had launched awareness campaigns with the support of youths, RMPs, private school students and the Health Department. During the past four months, the village recorded 10 girls and four boys among 14 births, resulting in a sex ratio of 2,500 girls per 1,000 boys. Similar figures were reported from Panniwala Morika, while Kingre village recorded 3,000 girls per 1,000 boys.
Data showed that 302 births took place under Odhan CHC in the last four months, including 156 boys and 146 girls, taking the overall CHC sex ratio to 936 girls per 1,000 boys. Across Sirsa district, the sex ratio from January to April stood at 883 girls per 1,000 boys. During the period, 5,548 children were born, including 2,947 boys and 2,601 girls, according to departmental records.
