CHANDIGARH, April 11 -- The Haryana health department on Thursday suspended Hisar district nodal officer of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PNDT), slapped show-cause notices on 12 senior medical officers (SMOs) and decided to chargesheet three SMOs who are in-charge of community health centres (CHCs) with the lowest sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the state.

The health department has also booted out the PNDT nodal officers of Charkhi Dadri, Rewari, Rohtak, Gurugram and Faridabad, the districts with the lowest sex ratio at birth in the state.

The crackdown comes in the wake of alarming dip in Haryana's sex ratio at birth (SRB), which was recorded 910 female births per 1,000 males in 2024-a six-point drop from 916 in 2023.

The cumulative...