Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:13:5
Nilanjana Bhowmick - AHN India Correspondent
New Delhi, India (AHN) - A recent United Nations survey has revealed an upward trend in Caesarean-sections in the Indian metro city of Mumbai. The report on the city's human development, released by the United Nations Development Program in Mumbai indicated that one in four babies born in the city were through c-section.
The report says that such a trend was often due to the women insisting on C-sections due to their misgivings that they might lose their husband's interest due to "vaginal expansion" following a normal birth.
The UNDP report revealed around 23 to 25 percent of total births take place through C-sections.
The World Health Organization, however, insists only 10-15 percent of the births should have surgical delivery.
Gynecologist Sangeeta Agrawal, however, disagrees with the report. She feels that most Indian women prefer normal births. "Indian women have a greater pain threshold and they look forward to normal delivery. In fact, they prefer doctors who insist on normal delivery. Most patients who come to me insist on normal delivery unless there are some health complications," Agrawal says.
Sanjeev Khot, another gynecologist, agrees that there has been an increase in the number of C-sections and that women do sometimes insist on it because of their fear of the pain.
"I always counsel them and make them understand that if pain was the factor then they can go for epidurals." He says.
The report revealed that around 0.7 percent of deliveries in the city were still conducted at home by non-trained people like family members or neighbors. However, more than 43 percent of births were carried out in government and civic hospitals in the year 2007, while 56 percent deliveries took place at private hospitals and nursing homes.
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