VIJAYAWADA: Over 600 deliveries have taken place in the government hospital in Vijayawada in January this year. Of which, 278 were C-section deliveries.
The number of C-section deliveries in private hospitals is more than double that of government hospitals across the State. Private hospital authorities claim that the doctors are opting for C-sections only for serious cases to avoid birth complications.
According to the National Health Survey 2015-16, the State registered 91.6 per cent institutional deliveries, but the rate of C-section deliveries was 40 per cent. In government hospitals, the rate of C-section deliveries is 25.5 per cent in 2015-16 in the State.
In the same year, the rate of C-section deliveries in private hospitals was much higher — 57 per cent. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended to take up C-section deliveries only at a rate of 10-15 per cent of the total number of deliveries.
The current figures show an alarming increase in the C-section deliveries in private hospitals and government hospitals.
“There are several reasons for the rise in C-section deliveries in the State. Both the hospital managements and patients are equally encouraging it as it saves time for doctors and gives less pain for women. There are some corporate hospitals who intentionally market themselves by saying ‘No labour pains’ or ‘pain-less delivery’ and charge lakhs of rupees. Such practices should be banned,” said Dr. Suhasini Reddy, member of Ethical Medical Practitioners Forum. A reputed private hospital in Vijayawada charges `2 lakh for a caesarean section and `1 lakh for a normal delivery. The same hospital handles almost 800 deliveries in a month of which 500 of them are C-sections, she added.
The hospital authorities say, “People who visit us would ask for a painless delivery and also come with muhurthams. The women and their families are preferring painless delivery. So with their consent, we are going for C-sections.”
The officials too said that the number of C-sections in private hospitals is indeed higher than that of government hospitals due to the shortage of midnight staff and better resources compared to government hospitals.
“Private hospitals carry more number of C-sections usually as they face shortage of staff and pre-planning. With proper planning and coordination, even a complex delivery can be done in a normal method. To save the lives of both the mother and child, the doctors go for C-sections,” said M Jaganmohan, superintendent of GGH, Vijayawada.
This week, Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said doctors who perform Caesarean operations without a valid medical reason must be “named and shamed”.