No end in sight for Telangana’s C section crisis as rates climb towards 65 percent

Nearly 60 per cent of deliveries in Telangana are conducted through C-sections, the highest in India, with studies flagging a large share as preventable. Experts warn that without policy intervention, the State will continue to top national rankings for surgical births.

Hyderabad: The cesarean section crisis in Telangana continues to remain a staggering public health challenge, with nearly 60 percent of all deliveries in the State now occurring via surgery.

Experts familiar with the issue point out that there is no end in sight to this rising trend of C-sections, as surgical interventions have now become a default mode of delivery.

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With no major advocacy initiatives to curtail C-sections launched in the last two years of the present State government, Telangana is expected to remain the number one State in India to conduct maximum number of C sections, year after year.

Recent studies including one by AIIMS, Delhi and Population Council (early 2025), has identified Telangana with the highest rate of ‘preventable’ C-sections in Southern India.

The study made it clear a significant portion of these surgeries are not driven by medical emergencies, but by non-clinical factors such as maternal request, physician convenience, ideal ‘muhurats’ and even fear of labor pain among pregnant women.

According to the study, the situation is even worse in private hospitals of Telangana where 81.5 percent of deliveries are now conducted surgically. The percentage of C-sections has continued to remain high, despite regular warnings from local district health authorities.

In 2024, the CAG report on public health infrastructure in Telangana also underscored the crisis. The CAG report said that surgical births in Telangana climbed from 56 percent to 61 percent in the last five years. The report explicitly highlighted a severe regional disparity; in districts like Peddapalli, the C-section rate has reached a staggering 80 percent, while more urbanized regions like Hyderabad and Rangareddy hover between 40 percent and 44 percent.

The situation:

In South India: Telangana: NFHS-4 (2015-16): 57.7 percent; NFHS-4 (2019-20): 60.7 percent

Kerala: NFHS-4 (2015-16): 40.1 percent; NFHS-4 (2019-20): 42.4 percent

Andhra Pradesh: NFHS-4 (2015-16): 40.1 percent; NFHS-4 (2019-20): 42.4 percent

Karnataka: NFHS-4 (2015-16): 23.6 percent; NFHS-4 (2019-20): 31.5 percent

Points:

· Estimated 6.55 lakh deliveries in Telangana every yer

· 45 percent of C-sections happen in Government hospitals

· Percentage of C-sections in districts between 75 percent and 80 percent

· In Hyderabad and RR district, C-sections percentage is between 40 and 44 percent