News • 13 July 2003

Private hospitals with higher percentage in caesareans

Matthew Vella

The total number of caesarean sections carried out in private hospitals in Malta during 2002 was 114, just over 32 per cent of all private hospital births, according to statistics released in Parliament by Health Minister Louis Deguara.

National Obstetric Information System (NOIS) figures confirm that in 2002, nine per cent of all births in Malta were delivered in private hospitals (St Philip’s, Capua and St James). Out of a total of 3,873 deliveries, 348 were carried out in private hospitals.

Statistics released in Parliament this week have now confirmed that 12 per cent of all c-sections in 2002 were carried out in private hospitals. This amounts to 114 c-sections or just over 32 per cent of all births in the private health sector. The number of c-sections in both public and private health care totalled 956.

The high rates of c-sections in the private sector eclipse those of the public sector, which in 2002 amounted to 23.8 per cent of all deliveries in St Luke’s. The total number of deliveries in St Luke’s totalled 3,525. The World Health Organisation’s recommended rate for developed countries is 15 per cent.

NOIS doctors speaking to MaltaToday last month, when NOIS quarterly figures were released, said the WHO statistics do not consider the nature of ‘high-risk’ countries where women are more liable to endure a c-section. They also said that the WHO standard does not take into account women who having first given birth by c-section are more likely to give birth in that way thereafter.

The highest rate of c-sections ever carried out in private hospitals in the last eight years was in 2001, when 17 per cent of all caesareans, 957 in total, were delivered by the private sector. In 2001 private hospitals delivered 162 babies through c-section.

Emergency deliveries in private hospitals are always transferred to St Luke’s hospital due to the availability of specialised technology. However MaltaToday can now confirm that private sector hospitals perform a higher rate of c-sections as a percentage of total deliveries than St Luke’s hospital.

The figures justify the well-guarded secret of the private sector, which would not release such sensitive information when MaltaToday first reported on the matter. Amid speculation of ‘preferred method’ for specialists eyeing increased insurance pay-outs on c-sections, private hospitals and the health division’s NOIS would not reveal the individual number of c-sections per sector last month.

matthew@maltamag.com