Birth has become a lucrative business in Kashmir, doctors perform unnecessary cesarean deliveries for money: DAK

Srinagar: With the alarming rise in unnecessary cesarean deliveries in Kashmir valley, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Saturday said that majority of these surgeries are done for financial gains.

“Doctors are motivated by money to perform needless surgical deliveries,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

“Birth has become a lucrative business in Kashmir,” he said.

“There is a well-oiled nexus between private hospitals and doctors that is pushing patients into cesareans they don’t need. A perception has been generated that cesareans are better than normal deliveries,” DAK President said.

“In order to convince perfectly healthy women to opt for elective cesarean section, doctors tell them about so called benefits of the surgery. Mothers are targeted at their first time pregnancy because if a woman has C-section once, she would need surgeries for subsequent pregnancies,” he added.

“Doctors make more money for cesarean than a normal delivery and hospitals rake in money for patient’s longer stay and medical attention. A cesarean is less time consuming and more profitable.” Dr Nisar said.

“A doctor would do 12 cesareans in the time it takes to do one normal delivery.”

“In government hospitals too, surgical births have increased dramatically,” he said.

“To learn the technique, postgraduate students perform cesareans when they are not required.”

“C-section delivery is a surgical procedure used to deliver a baby through incision in the abdomen and the uterus,” Dr Nisar said.

“While WHO states that Cesarean rates should not be more than 10 percent of the total deliveries and must be performed in emergency cases, the rates at Kashmir hospitals are as high as 80 percent.”

He said unnecessary cesarean section delivery is risky to both mother and child.

For mother, C-section raises the chances of complications such as blood loss, infection or blood clots.

Studies indicate that the chance of maternal mortality is 4-5 times after an elective cesarean than a normal delivery.

For the newborn, it means delayed breast feeding, lower birth weight, respiratory problems and increased rate of hospitalization.

“The natural birth is the ideal way and if it was better to deliver through the stomach, nature would have surely made it so,” said Dr Nisar. (GNS)