SC Dismisses Plea Seeking Guidelines on Cesarean Operations, Fines Petitioner

NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court quashed a petition seeking guidelines on how cesarean deliveries should be conducted in hospitals. Calling the PIL an “abuse of process of law”, a three-judge bench slapped a fee of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner. The petitioner, Reepak Kansal, alleged private hospitals were conducting unnecessary C-section deliveries to make money and sought constitution of a medical board to monitor the same.
“What is that you want? How much cost will you pay, you tell us? You want the court to lay down guidelines as to how cesarean deliveries has to be done? Is it a PIL (Public Interest Litigation),” the court said. “Having perused the PIL, we are of the view that the same is an abuse of process of law.
The bench was headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprised Justices R Banumathi and Navin Sinha.
Kansal said the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends C-section deliveries only when it becomes a medical necessity, but in India they are being performed to make money. He claimed there was a higher rate of C-section deliveries in private hospitals as opposed to government ones, adding that this was a “clear indication that these institutions deliberately perform C-sections as it was directly proportionate to the fact that surgical deliveries cost much more than normal deliveries.”
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