Express News Service

SANGAREDDY/HYDERABAD: If you were brought up with the notion that C-section surgeries are only done at private hospitals, then consider this — government maternity hospitals in Telangana now witness so many C-sections that they seem to be giving private facilities a run for their money.

The reasons range from doctors trying to avoid risks to mothers seeking to avoid labour pain, and couples wanting their children to be born at an auspicious hour.

Of the 19,570 babies born in government hospitals in Telangana in 2019-20 (till August), 11,144 were delivered through C-section surgeries. In 2018-19, of 52,426 deliveries, 31,897 were C-sections. In 2017-18, 37,732 deliveries were conducted in the eight main maternity hospitals in the state — Sangareddy, Siddipet, Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Khammam, Karimnagar, Janagoan and King Koti Maternity Hospitals. Of these, 15,664 were normal deliveries, and 22,068 were C-sections. Siddipet and Karimnagar districts recorded the most C-sections.

“First-time mothers are often scared of natural delivery,” Dr Jasmin Rath, a gynaecologist from Hyderabad, explained. “During C-sections, there is no pain because we use anaesthesia. However, this is only from the patient’s perspective. We advise C-sections only when there is a complication during childbirth, like when the baby weighs more than 5 kg, or when the woman has severe pelvic contractions, or when the volume of water in the womb is low,” Rath added. C-sections can have adverse health effects on the mother.