Reported increase of C-Section at GPHC

Jan 13, 2017 News

…doctors claim to reduce maternal mortality

-former Public Health Minister insists practice against medical ethics

There has reportedly been an increase in the number of births by way of Caesarean Section (C-Section) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
An official close to the operation of the hospital disclosed that in one day there was an unprecedented 19 C-Section conducted last year.
While C-Section is the use of surgery to deliver one or more babies, it is usually performed when a vaginal delivery would put the baby or mother at risk.
But according to the official, C-Sections are reportedly not merely being done at the GPHC because of emergencies, but in an effort to reduce the number of maternal deaths and avoid being sanctioned.
“Doctors are trying to protect themselves…Doing C-Sections also makes it easier for them…They are looking at safety and they wouldn’t have to be bothered at night,” said the official.
This development, the official said, seems to suggest that the hospital is gradually moving towards a practice that occurs in some private institutions. The official pointed out that this practice has long been adopted in a number of overseas hospitals.
But according to former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, while he is not in possession of the statistics, he would hope that there is not an increase in the number of C-Sections at the GPHC.
“While I cannot doubt it is possible, I am convinced, and this is no politics, medical ethics will not permit any surgeon, any obstetrician to do a Caesarean Section unless it is absolutely necessary. They should not do it just for the sake of a good friend, a wife, a sister…so that they do not go through the so-called labour in its true sense. Medical ethics will not permit it and I hope and don’t think that our physicians will do that…” said Dr. Norton.
He continued, “I personally have not heard of there being an increase but I would not want to believe that. However, I can’t doubt it because I don’t have the information so it is possible that there has been an increase.”
Last year, the Ministry of Public Health recorded a total of 12 maternal deaths, an amount that represented a decline from the 17 recorded the previous year.
As Minister of Public Health, Dr. Norton boasted that his Ministry was able to keep its maternal death numbers down because of an increase in medical evacuations to ensure that women likely to have problematic pregnancies be swiftly transported to a facility with capacity to effectively cater to complications that could result in death.
Minister Norton also attributed this reduction in maternal mortality to the fact that there are more trained doctors in the Public Health system in the field of Obstetrics. “This has resulted in earlier diagnosis of complications,” asserted Dr. Norton.
This is due to the fact, the Minister said, that to date, some 75 percent of all Cuban-trained medical practitioners have been trained in ALARMS (Emergency Obstetrics Training). Forty more health care workers were trained in ALARMS in 2016.
The reduction in the number of maternal deaths can also be attributed to increased education and women being seen earlier in their pregnancy, Dr. Norton quipped.

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