Govt hospital clearance needed for caesarean deliveries at pvt hospitals under NHPM

Caesarean deliveries in private hospitals under the Centre's National Health Protection Mission will only be allowed after the patient is referred from a government hospital specifying reasons.

The aim is to encourage normal deliveries, Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Mission, Indu Bhushan said.

He said normal deliveries will not be covered under the scheme, which aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually and benefit more than 10 crore families belonging to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society.

"Caesarean sections will only be allowed in private hospitals under the scheme after they are referred there from public hospitals specifying the reasons, which could be bed or human resource shortage or other issues," Bhushan said.

A caesarean surgery is used for delivery when normal vaginal delivery poses a medical risk to the mother or the child.

"According to WHO, the ideal rate of C-section is 10-15 per cent for a country, but in India, caesarean deliveries have become rampant especially in private hospitals indicating commercialisation of deliveries," Bhushan said.

The base rate of C-sections under the scheme have been fixed at Rs 9,000.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) data released by the Union health ministry in May last year, private hospitals carried out 40.9 per cent of caesarean sections as compared to 11.9 per cent performed in government health institutions.

The Centre has included 1,354 packages in the scheme and rates for over 20 specialties, including orthopaedics, cardiology, cancer and neurosurgery are included in the package.

The rates of packages have been finalised after analysing the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and CGHS rates and are on an average 15-20 per cent lower than that of CGHS, Bhushan had said.