Veena's elder sister Rashmi, who is four months pregnant, has come to stay with them for a weak. Veena's mother, Mrs. Nirmala, wanted to take Rashmi to a gynaecologist for a prenatal (before birth) medical check-up. Veena also accompanied them to the hospital. The gynaecologist carried out the required physical examination of Rashmi and then recommended a particular scan to be done. While going to the Imaging Department of the hospital, Mrs. Nirmala said that after the scan is done, she would ask the doctor doing the scan a specific question aboyt the foetus. Veena is a student of class X who has studied the reproductive systems of humans in the class. She could make out what her mother was going to ask the doctor about the developing foetus. Veena asked her mother not to ask any irrelevent question based on the scan to be done and explained the reason for it. Mrs, Nirmala agreed to what Veena had said. After the required scan was done, all of them visited the gynaecologist again. The gynaecologist studied the scan carefully and said that everything was okay. Everyone was happy. While coming back home, Mrs. Nirmala said that instead of going to a far off hospital the same purpose could have been served by setting an X-ray done on Rashmi at the neighbourhood X-ray clinic. Veena did not agree with her mother. She said a firm 'No' to X-ray on Rashmi at this stage.
(a) What type of scan was recommended by gynaecologist for Rashmi? Name the machine used for this purpose.
(b) Why was the above scan recommended?
(c) Describe the principle of working of the scanning machine briefly. What is this technique known as?
(d) What do you think was the irrelevent question which Mrs. Nirmala wanted to ask the doctor after the scan was done?
(e) Why did Veena tell her mother not to ask such a question?
(f) Why did Veena say 'No' to X-ray for Rashmi?
(g) What values are displayed by Veena in this episode?

Explanation

(a) The gynaecologist recommended 'ultrasound scan' for Rashmi. An 'ultrasound scanner' machine is used for this purpose.
(b) The gynaecologist recommended ultrasound scan for Rashmi for the examination of foetus (unborn child) during pregnancy to detct any abnormality in the growth so that necessary steps could be taken to rectify the abnormality (if any) well in time.
(c) The ultrasound scanner works on the principle of reflection of sound (or rather principle of reflection of ultrasound). This happens as follows: The ultrasound scanner trasmits ultrasound pulses into the pregnant woman's body and receives echoes formed by the reflection of ultrasound from the foetus inside the uterus. These ultrasound echoes form a picture of the developing baby and detect any growth abnormalities, etc. The technique of obtaining pictures of the internal organs of the baby (having different densities) by using echoes of ultrasound pulses is called ultrasongraphy.
(d) Mrs. Nirmala wanted to ask about the sex (boy or girl) of the foetus (unborn child) of Rashmi.
(e) Veena knew that there is a law which prohibits doctors to tell the sex or gender of the unbron child.
(f) Veena said 'No' to X-ray for Rashmi because X-rays can damage the delicate body cells of the foetus. This is not so in using ultrasound for taking scans.
(g) The various values displayed by Veena in this episode are (i) Responsible citizen (in preventing her mother from knowing the sex of unborn child) (ii) Concern for th girl child (because sex determination of foetus can lead to female foeticide), and (iii) Concern for the healthy growth of her sister's unborn child (by not allowing Rashmi to be exposed to X-rays).