KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population has directed the health institutions not to carry out any activities to identify the gender of babies in pregnant women.

Ministry’s under-secretary Yekdev Khanal has written to the government, and private and community health institutions to avoid sex-selective ultrasound adding that such an act was punishable and committing this crime lands an individual to three months to one year in jail.

The Ministry has also directed the health institutions and laboratories to paste such information at their premises.

The Ministry’s circulation to the health institutions comes as the recently released report of the National Housing and Population Census, 2021 has shown imbalances in the sex ratio of newborns in the country.

In recent years, the number of newborn boys is higher compared to girls mostly due to sex-selective fetus abortion, which is a crime in the eyes of the law.