The Business Of Birth In Kashmir

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
Representational Photo

By Er. Haya Aijaz

In recent years, Kashmir has witnessed a massive surge in cesarean section deliveries, raising serious concerns among public health experts barring concerned surgeons.

With a steady increase in test driven C-sections, many healthcare professionals are reportedly steering patients toward surgical births often for convenience or profit, turning this into a disturbing trend. Many expecting mothers report feeling pressured into cesarean deliveries.

Doctors frequently cite vague or questionable reasons such as the baby's size, low amniotic fluid, potential distress, or hypothetical complications to push for surgery. They often claim,“It's safer for the baby,” or“We don't want to take a risk,” without giving women full information or viable alternatives.

Ironically, the advancement of technology in healthcare, rather than making childbirth more natural and safe, has made it harder for women to deliver normally. In earlier times, women gave birth without complications on roads, in tongas, in caravans, and even while migrating from one place to another. Nomadic women delivered babies anywhere, anytime, without hospitals or technology, and often without medical issues.

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Even today, in villages and far-flung areas where modern technology has limited access, normal deliveries are still common. Women in these regions often remain healthier and stronger than their urban counterparts, despite not undergoing frequent scans or clinical followups. This contrast raises an important question: Has technology truly improved maternal health, or has it enabled a trend of unnecessary surgical interventions?

What's unfolding now borders on a butcher's business cutting women open without valid medical grounds. Many women go through a full nine months of pregnancy, strictly attending follow-up appointments, undergoing all necessary tests, and maintaining active lifestyles, only to be wheeled into the OT at the last moment for a cesarean procedure. This not only undermines the essence of childbirth but also puts women's longterm health at risk.

Interestingly, C-sections were originally introduced as lifesaving interventions during life-threatening conditions. Unfortunately, in many urban and semi urban settings, they are now being promoted and preferred even in normal cases, often without justified cause. This issue is not just medical, it is becoming a modern social evil. It is alarming and deeply concerning, yet often overlooked. The overuse and abuse of cesarean deliveries threaten not only physical health but also emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Raising awareness is no longer optional, it's a necessity. Women must be educated about their rights, childbirth choices, and the longterm consequences of surgical deliveries. By questioning medical recommendations, seeking second opinions, and pushing for evidence based practices; patients can reclaim their autonomy and dignity in the childbirth process.

Many doctors today don't even wait for the onset of labor pain, which is medically important for a woman's body to naturally prepare for delivery. Labor pain is not just a sign, it is a crucial physiological process that signals readiness and helps the body transition smoothly through birth.

Natural delivery through the birth canal plays a vital role in developing a baby's immunity. As the baby passes through the canal, it encounters beneficial maternal bacteria that help build the child's immune system. However, in cesarean births, often done 10 to 15 days before the due date, this essential step is skipped. Babies are taken out through the lower abdomen, without any natural exposure.

This unnatural entry into the world can lead to serious complications. In many cases, the baby is rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) just minutes after birth, deprived of the warmth and comfort of the mother's chest. What should have been time spent in the mother's womb becomes time in an incubator.

Complications like Acute Respiratory Distress (ARD), neonatal infections, and respiratory failures are now frequently observed. ARD in particular is a life-threatening condition that affects the baby's ability to breathe properly, often requiring ventilatory support. Such complications not only pose immediate risks but can also lead to long-term developmental delays, poor immunity, and prolonged dependence on medical care. Often, these babies spend 10 to 15 days in NICU and are later discharged with a long list of care instructions. In unfortunate cases, complications worsen, sometimes becoming untreatable.

We need to understand that women of this era are already older, biologically and functionally, than our grandmothers ever were-even in their youth. One of the key reasons is that their deliveries were extremely natural without unnecessary surgical interventions. Despite having more than six children, our grandmothers remained active, healthy, and mentally strong, often living long, fulfilling lives. Today's women, in contrast, are facing reproductive and physical health challenges earlier in life.

This issue demands urgent attention, not just from the healthcare sector but from society at large. Women must reclaim their choices, and families must support informed decisions over fearful ones. It is high time we see childbirth not as a profit-making opportunity, but as a natural, empowering experience that deserves respect, patience, and dignity.

It's time we stand against this silent crisis. The health and future of our women deserve more.

• – The author is a Research Scholar based out of Kashmir. Views expressed in this article are author's own and don't necessarily reflect KO's editorial policy.

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