Increase in caesarean surgeries a dangerous trend: Girri

A BJP MP on Thursday said that the steady increase in the number of caesarean surgeries points to a dangerous trend that needs to checked.

"Increasing number of caesarean surgeries indicates a dangerous trend and it is not good for the poor and middle class people," East Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maheish Girri said in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour.

The BJP leader said that according to figures by National Family Health Survey (NFHS), number of caesarean operations have almost doubled in the country in the past decade.

"If we compare it with the numbers two decades back, it has increased six times. This is mostly visible in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Telangana, Goa, Bengal and Kerala," he said.

However, the Minister said, many times the caesarean surgeries are a life saving technique and only way for delivery.

"But it has come to notice that private hospitals motivate their patients to go for caesarean. This is shown through figures which say that almost 35 per cent of all surgeries in private hospitals are caesarean," he claimed.

Girri said that WHO mandates that if 10 to 15 per cent of all surgeries are caesarean, it's a satisfactory number. "But in India it's quite high. While in rural areas, it is 12.9 per cent, in cities it has risen to 28.3 per cent."

Girri also said that caesarean has a lot of disadvantages and bad after-affects.

"This should be taken into serious consideration. Caesarean should only be done if it is necessary, and not for economic gains," Girri added.

--IANS

aks/qd/sed