Caesarean ploy: Hospitals knowingly go for it to cash in on would-be-mothers

In reply to an RTI, they were found conducting caesarean deliveries from 65 to 73 per cent which was only 21 per cent in government hospitals.

"Laudable were the objects and intents of the hospital when it was to seek various benefits from the government authorities and particularly allotment of land in the heart of the city at such concessional rates and it was to be a charitable hospital on the principal of no profit… This progress and profiteering could not have been achieved by the hospital but for the allotment of the land..." these lines from historic judgment of Delhi High Court in 2007 echo in most of the corporate hospitals.

In the original order, 20 private hospitals were to provide 10 per cent of IPD beds and 25 per cent OPD completely free to EWS patients but the number of hospitals has now increased to 41 and quality of service is alarmingly low in most of them. As per World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, the caesarean deliveries in any hospital should be 10 to 15 per cent. "These guidelines of WHO has been forwarded to all the states, Union Territories and Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI)," said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in reply to a separate RTI on October 20, 2015.

According to the information in RTI provided by the Delhi government, the 49 prominent private hospitals conducted 45,064 deliveries from April 2012 to March 2015 out of which 29,535 were caesarean. The claim of safe delivery in corporate hospitals was also a farce as 49 out of 3,949 women died during delivery in Max Balaji Superspecialty hospital, Patpargunj, during this period.

"The motives of caesarean deliveries are mostly for profit. The hospitals hardly conduct any planned caesarean delivery but inform the relatives at the eleventh hour when expectant mother is in labour room," said Leena Prasad, lawyer of 'Independent Thoughts', which recently filed a PIL in Delhi High Court on the issue.

"We have demanded framing of guidelines for caesarean delivery to protect the interests of mother and new born," she added. According to a rough estimate, a normal delivery in these corporate hospitals cost around Rs 10,000 while a caesarean fetches around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 to the hospital and requires three to four days stay. The normal reasons for conducting caesarean includes the mother fainting and is then unable to push and the new born defecates in the womb which may be poisonous or membrane of the embryo ruptured.