The Health Ministry will form a committee to reduce the number of Caesarean sections performed in Egyptian hospitals.
Ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said this comes as a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO), which says that hospitals should only resort to Caesareans out of necessity. The WHO is calling the worldwide spread of delivery by Caesarean an epidemic.
A survey conducted in 2014 showed that 52 percent of Egyptian women give birth by Caesarean.
“It should not exceed 15 percent,” said Dr. Mohamed Nour Eddin of the Health Ministry, attributing the phenomenon to doctors wanting to make more money, as this surgery costs twice as much as a normal delivery.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
