ABHA: The acceptance among Saudi women for caesarean section births has increased to about 40 percent without any medical need. Globally, 30 percent of births are through the caesarean section due to scientific advancements in this area, revealed obstetrics and gynecology consultant Dr. Maher Rustom.
He said the main four reasons for the increasing demand for C-sections is the unwillingness to experience labor and the pain of natural childbirth; unnecessary fear; significant developments in the medical field; as well as not having to restore the genital tract to its original state after C-sections.
He said C-sections have many pros, namely reducing labor pains and shorter labor times of up to 30 minutes, while some of the many cons include high surgery costs.
Socialogist Fatma Al-Qahtani said most Saudi women resort to C-sections due to the fear of labor pain in natural deliveries, especially if it is the first pregnancy or following a previously painful delivery. “Women today do not want to experience natural labor pain,” she said. “Part of these births may be simply a matter of tradition among women and nothing more.”
Makkah topped the list in the number of caesarean deliveries at 39 percent, followed by Al-Qurayat with 18 percent. The Eastern Province recorded 6,849 C-sections, while the total number of these deliveries at the Ministry of Health’s hospitals around the Kingdom reached 262,173 births, of which 27 percent were unnatural and C-sections, according to the latest statistics from the ministry.
According to reports from government hospitals for 2015, C-sections may now be related to the embryo as its location and positioning may lead to resorting to C-sections, noting that reasons for this include “minimal movement of the mother and not paying attention to the benefits of light walking for pregnant women over spaced intervals.”