Nearly one in two births in China caesarean: Survey

BEIJING - Nearly one in two births in China are caesarean, said the latest survey by the World Health Organisation as a professor pointed out that many hospitals are motivated by financial incentives to encourage unnecessary caesarean operations.

China Daily Thursday quoted experts as saying that in recent years, a growing number of women in the country have chosen C-sections over natural birth as some want to avoid the pain of labour and some want to choose an auspicious day for the baby’s birth.

Liu Shuang, a professor with the institute of population study at Renmin University of China, claimed that many maternity hospitals are motivated by financial incentives to encourage unnecessary C-sections.

“Besides, it’s more convenient and easier to arrange doctors to perform the C-section,” Liu said.

Experts said that the rate of C-section has grown almost 10 times from the 1970s to reach 46 percent today, far above the 15 percent rate thought reasonable by the WHO.

Liu said: “The surgical baby delivery should only be used when complications develop at birth which put the mother or baby’s life at risk and doctors should only perform it when necessary.”

WHO warned that unnecessary caesarean jeopardise women’s health by raising the risk of complications.

“I was not aware of that,” said Zhang Lin, a Beijing mother of a two-year-old girl born by caesarean, adding: “The doctor told me that caesarean was convenient and painless and would be quicker compared with natural birth. So naturally I chose caesarean.”

Zhang said that she spent about 7,000 yuan ($1,000) for the caesarean operation at a maternity hospital in Beijing where a normal birth costs around 2,000 yuan.