As revealed in the Odisha Assembly, private hospitals perform a disproportionately high frequency of caesarean or C-section deliveries compared to government facilities.
In response to a question by MLA Tankadhar Tripathy, Odisha Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling gave a presentation in the state Assembly on Tuesday that compared the birth rates over the previous two years.
2022–2023: 99,998 deliveries, or 77.46% of the 1,29,088 deliveries at private institutions, were cesarean sections.
2023–2024: The rate rose to 81.06% with 1,40,126 deliveries, including 1,13,598 caesarean deliveries.
2022–2023: 1,83,443 deliveries, or 30.53% of 6,00,740 deliveries in government hospitals, were C-sections.
2023–2024: 1,95,578 of the 5,91,185 deliveries that took place were cesarean sections, which raised the rate to 33.08%.
Discussions on maternal healthcare practices in the state have been sparked by the data, which shows the growing preference for caesarean deliveries in private healthcare facilities.
