Efforts needed to contain C-sections

Based on the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20), Telangana tops the nation in caesarean sections. In urban centres of Telangana, 65 per cent of pregnancies and in rural areas 59% of the pregnancies are caesarean sections.

Hyderabad: With Mother and Child Health (MCH) care facilities being a crucial part of services available in public healthcare facilities, sustained and concerted efforts are needed to be taken up by the present Health Department to keep vital healthcare parameters like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and last but not the least C-sections, stable and under control.

In addition to continuing the good practices and pioneering efforts that are already in place to control IMR, MMR and C-sections, there is a definite need for the Health Department to intensify its efforts at containing unnecessary C-sections for childbirth, a social practice taken root among families and requires continuous efforts and longterm planning.

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Based on the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20), Telangana tops the nation in caesarean sections. In urban centres of Telangana, 65 per cent of pregnancies and in rural areas 59% of the pregnancies are caesarean sections.

The previous BRS government had launched multi-pronged concerted efforts to contain unnecessary C-sections for childbirth. In the last year or so, consistent efforts have been made to get pregnant women and their family members to avail of the healthcare facilities in Government hospitals, and aware of the importance of having a safe and normal delivery.

In October (2021), at private and government hospitals, 61.41% of the deliveries were C-sections while in October (2022), the percentage was 54.49%, a 7% drop.

In addition to having a separate cadre of midwives, special efforts like encouraging pregnant women to take up simple exercises, teaching them this through special classes, and conducting counselling sessions to make pregnant women and their family members aware of the importance of undergoing normal delivery, were taken up by the former BRS government.