Deputies discuss Greece’s high rate of C-sections
The high rate of Caesarean section births in Greece was debated in Parliament Thursday after a question submitted by SYRIZA MP Giorgos Dimaras to Health Minister Andreas Xanthos.
“This signals a violation of the human rights of both mother and child,” said Dimaras, who asked the minister how the government plans to tackle the issue.
According to a report in Kathimerini last December, experts say that between 50 and 70 percent of babies delivered in Greece are via C-section – far above the European Union average of approximately 25 percent, while the World Health Organization says the percentage of this type of surgery shouldn’t be above 15 percent.
Dimaras also bemoaned the lack of information and the general public’s ignorance regarding the benefits of the Vaginal Birth After Caesarean method which is internationally accepted and widely used.
