The Radiologist Peered into his ultrasound scanner and beamed. "Congratulations, "he announced. "It's a girl." Rajendra Jain could feel his heart sink. Two daughters already and now another on the way. He glanced furtively

Every year, as millions of women marry, they dream of starting a family, of having their homes filled with tiny cries and the happy laughter of gurgling babies. In India however, pregnancy is too often followed by the question of
whether the unborn child is a girl or a boy.

The high female infant mortality rates (Miller, 1985), the practice of female infanticide (Krishnaswamy, 1988), the neglect of female children with regard to access to health services, nutrition (Sen and Sengupta 1983) and education (Mankekar, 1985), and the sexual abuse of girls (Bhalerao, 1985)

Recent publicity about unethical trials raises a number of questions about research in developing countries.

Doctors in India are questioning the ethics of a study which observed the natural course of precancerous uterine cervical lesions without treatment in women who had not given written consent to take part.

Persons testing positive for infection by HIV or showing evidence of AIDS provoke revulsion and fear in medical doctors. These reactions stem from the general knowledge that the diagnosis of AIDS is akin to a death sentence and the belief that a positive HIV test is, inevitably.

There is a widespread feeling that there has been a general erosion of ethical standards even in professions, which have been considered 'noble'. This has prompted a soul-searching exercise to understand the problems involved.

Modern medical practice is by its very nature an interventionist one and in principle, all medical interventions need the informed consent of the patient to be ethically correct.

Ethics is an important yet neglected issue in the field of medicine. When discussed, it provokes controversy. In the West we find conscious and continuous debate on this subject. Ethics is not a forbidden word there nor are