Bengal starts audit of caesarean deliveries
Kolkata: In an attempt to check high rates of caesarean delivery at private hospitals across Bengal, the state Health department on Friday started an audit to maintain detailed data relating to the birth of newborns.
This is for the first time that the state government has come up with a unique idea of carrying out an audit regarding caesarean delivery from this financial year to check the tendency of private hospitals to conduct C-section unnecessarily only to make more money. The new mechanism will help the government to monitor monthly data relating to the birth of newborns. The government-run hospitals will have to undertake the audit regarding the birth of newborns as well.
Last Wednesday, the state Health department issued an order saying that all the hospitals will have to furnish details regarding each and every cesarean delivery. A form has to be filled up by a treating gynecologist in the hospital mentioning in detail as to why the caesarean delivery was carried out on a particular patient. All these forms filled up in a particular month have to be submitted to Swasthya Bhawan by the hospitals within 5-10 of the very next month. Senior Health department officials will examine these forms. If they are not convinced, they can seek explanation from the treating doctors as to why he/she had carried out the caesarean delivery. Action may be taken by the Health department against the doctors if they perform the surgery unnecessarily. This will be applicable in case of government doctors as well. Representatives of various private hospitals in Kolkata, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas were summoned at Swasthya Bhawan on March 23 and were given a demonstration as to when a caesarean delivery can be conducted. There have been cases where pregnant mothers preferred caesarean delivery to avoid labour pain. In many cases, the doctors are not able to give adequate time to perform a normal delivery.
The Health department has been stressing on normal delivery. Most private hospitals prefer to conduct caesarean delivery on women when normal delivery can be easily performed. The package of cesarean delivery is ofcourse higher than normal delivery. According to a state Health department figure, over 88 per cent of infants in private hospitals and nursing homes are born out of caesarean delivery while in the government hospitals and state-run maternity clinics; only 33 percent infants are born through C-section.
