New rules are part of international drive to stamp out "brutal practice" in one generation, government says.
LONDON, Feb 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Family doctors in Britain will have to start recording cases of female genital mutilation by October as part of an international drive to stamp out the "brutal practice" in one generation, the government said on Friday.
It made the announcement two days after a British doctor accused of carrying out FGM on a new mother was acquitted in the country's first FGM trial.
The trial of Dhanuson Dharmasena took place amid growing public outrage over the authorities' failure to put anyone on trial for FGM, although the practice has been illegal in Britain for 30 years.
An estimated 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales have undergone FGM, the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, which can cause serious physical and psychological problems as well as complications in childbirth.
"FGM devastates the lives of women and girls and we are committed to ending this brutal practice in one generation," Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said in a statement on International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.
The government also announced 1.6 million pounds ($2.45 million) in funding for an FGM prevention programme, 2 million pounds for a specialised team of social workers, and better training for health workers on how to communicate about FGM with patients.
($1 = 0.6539 pounds) (Editing by Tim Pearce)
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