PCPNDT Form F: sections, filing and records

What is Form F, and why does the law require it?

The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 — usually called the PC&PNDT Act — does not ban prenatal ultrasound, which is a routine and necessary part of antenatal care. It bans using any technique, ultrasound included, to find out or reveal the sex of a foetus, and separately bans sex selection before conception. Form F is how the law makes that provable, scan by scan, instead of relying on a clinic's word for it: every centre registered to perform a prenatal diagnostic procedure on a pregnant woman has to complete a Form F for that specific procedure, recording who referred her, why the scan was medically indicated, what was found, who performed it, and two signed declarations that the foetus's sex was neither asked for nor revealed.

This is not treated as a secondary paperwork requirement sitting alongside the real ban. Under Section 29 of the Act, a deficiency or inaccuracy in the ultrasonography record itself amounts to a contravention of Section 5 or Section 6 — the sections that prohibit communicating or determining the sex of a foetus — unless the person who conducted the procedure proves otherwise. In other words, an incomplete Form F is not just a fine for bad record-keeping; it is treated as evidence of the underlying offence.

Who has to fill out Form F, and for which procedures?

Every registered Genetic Clinic, Genetic Laboratory, Ultrasound Clinic or Imaging Centre that performs a prenatal diagnostic procedure on a pregnant woman — ultrasonography (USG), amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling (CVS), foetal biopsy, cordocentesis, or another procedure of the same kind — must complete Form F for each occasion. It is filled by, or for, the registered doctor who actually performs the procedure, at the time of the procedure, not assembled afterward from memory or from a batch of patients seen that week.

What does the Appropriate Authority actually do?

Every Genetic Clinic, Ultrasound Clinic or Imaging Centre has to be registered with its district-level (or, in some states, sub-district) Appropriate Authority before it can perform any prenatal diagnostic procedure — registration is not automatic and has to be renewed. The Appropriate Authority's job doesn't stop at registration: it can inspect a centre's records at any reasonable time, issue a show-cause notice on its own initiative or on a complaint, and suspend or cancel a centre's registration for a breach of the Act or Rules — which is exactly why the record-keeping in this guide matters on a normal day, not only during an inspection. Contact details and the exact registration/renewal process are set locally, so confirm both with your own district Appropriate Authority rather than assuming they're the same as a neighbouring district.

What does Form F actually record?

Form F is built around the specific procedure, not the patient's general history. It covers:

• The pregnant woman's identity — name, age, husband's or father's name, address and contact number.
• Referral — who referred her, or that she was self-referred, and the referral date.
• Obstetric and family history — number of living sons and daughters with their ages, the last menstrual period, and any relevant family history of a genetic disorder.
• The indication for the procedure — chosen from the list of valid medical reasons the Rules prescribe. Sex determination is deliberately absent from that list.
• Procedure details — which procedure, the date it was performed, the machine used, and the name and registration number of the doctor who performed it.
• Findings — written up without any wording that records or implies the foetus's sex.
• The two declarations — see below.

What are the two mandatory declarations?

Both are printed on the form itself and both must be signed before the woman leaves:

• The pregnant woman's declaration: “I do not want to know the sex of my foetus.”
• The declaration of the person conducting the procedure: “I have explained the above to the pregnant woman, and I have neither detected nor disclosed the sex of her foetus to anybody.”

A scan record without both declarations signed is treated as an incomplete Form F, with the same consequences as a deficient one — see what happens if a form is wrong below.

How are Form F records kept and reported?

Under Section 29 of the Act, records — including Form F — must be preserved for at least two years from the date the procedure or counselling was completed, or, if a legal proceeding relating to that record is under way, until the proceeding is finally disposed of. The register (or copies of it) has to be produced for inspection to the Appropriate Authority at any reasonable time. A statutory-register system built for this keeps every Form F as a draft until both declarations are checked, then locks it — the same discipline described in the checklist below.

Most states also require centres to submit copies of completed Form Fs, along with referral slips, to their Appropriate Authority on a recurring cycle. The exact day of the month, and whether the cycle is monthly or quarterly, is set at the state or district level and does vary — confirm the current schedule with your own district Appropriate Authority rather than assuming a single national date, and keep a dated acknowledgement of every submission on file.

What happens if a form is missing, incomplete or wrong?

Under Section 23, the penalty scales with who committed the offence and whether it is a first or repeat finding. Separately, under Section 23(2), the Appropriate Authority reports the registered medical practitioner's name to the State Medical Council, which can suspend the registration while proceedings are pending, regardless of offence count.

A hospital that also runs a maternity or IPD service keeps a second statutory register alongside Form F — see our MCCD Form 4 guide for the death register and cause-of-death certificate most of the same facilities are required to maintain.

A practical checklist for the ultrasound room

• Registration certificate and the machine's own registration are displayed and current.
• Form F is opened before the scan begins, not filled in afterward from memory.
• Every column is completed — a blank column is treated the same as a deficiency, so record “NA” or “nil” explicitly rather than leaving a field empty.
• The referral slip is attached, or “self-referred” is noted explicitly if there wasn't one.
• The indication is picked from the prescribed list — never left generic if a genuine medical reason exists, and never recorded if it doesn't.
• Findings are written without any phrasing that could record or imply the foetus's sex.
• Both declarations are read aloud, not just handed over, and signed before the woman leaves.
• The form is finalised (or physically filed) the same day — not left open as an editable draft.
• A monthly reconciliation: the number of prenatal procedures performed that month should equal the number of Form Fs on file, no more and no fewer.
• Copies go to the Appropriate Authority on your district's schedule, with the acknowledgement kept on file.

Common mistakes that draw action from the Appropriate Authority

• Blank or partially filled columns, especially the indication, machine or referral fields.
• A generic “routine antenatal scan” recorded instead of a real, listed medical indication.
• Declarations signed after the woman has already left, or not signed at all.
• A correction made on a finalised form, or a draft correction made without recording why — both undermine the record's evidentiary value.
• Form F not reconciled against the OPD or procedure register, so some scans are performed with no matching Form F at all.
• Copies not sent to the Appropriate Authority on schedule, or sent with no acknowledgement kept.
• The machine actually used is not the one registered and reported to the Authority.