Cyprus has Europe’s highest rate of births by Caesarean section with an overwhelming 59.9% of newborn children on the island being delivered by C-section in 2021.
The acceptable limit set by the World Health Organisation is up to 15 per cent.
The latest data was released before the House Health Committee on Thursday.
MPs heard that the reasons behind the alarming high number of C-section deliveries include the financial benefit for health professionals and bad mentality of Cypriot women.
Apparently, new mothers in Cyprus want to “avoid” pain and ask doctors themselves to undergo this unnecessary operation.
However, the biggest disparity recorded in physician and hospital reimbursements between natural births and C-sections has been cited as one of the most significant reasons behind the rate increase in recent years.
At the same time, before the island’s introduction of the General Health Scheme (Gesy) insurance companies did not cover natural births at all but only those by caesarean section. That was probably the reason why the rate was still high but not at today’s alarming levels.
As for the Health Insurance Organization, now that this phenomenon was recorded in Gesy’s IT system, action has been taken with the amount of compensation for natural childbirth having already been increased.
A national policy is in the draft aiming to tackle the island’s high rate of births by Caesarean section.
