Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has raised concern over new portable ultrasound machines used for illegal sex determination of fetuses. Speaking in the Legislative Council in Belagavi on December 16, he said, "People involved in the illegal activity use the portable devices. It is difficult to keep track of them and take action in such cases." Officers have identified taluks with sex ratios below the state average and hospitals where only male children are born. The minister added, "In many cases, oral medicine is prescribed for termination of pregnancy. Such medicine are being sold across the counter. We are working out strategies to tackle the incidents." BJP member C.T. Ravi urged for stronger laws under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994. He said, "In three cases of female foeticide reported in Karnataka, the accused include government officials. The doctors, if suspended from service, will continue to practice. The law should be strengthened so that the accused lose their licence." Responding, Dinesh Gundu Rao pointed to awareness as a key solution. "In Kerala, the sex ratio is high, because there people do not go for either sex determination or female foeticide. Hence, we need to prepare society against such practice," he stated.