Centre asks states to carry out prescription audit in private health facilities

NEW DELHI: The states have been asked to carry out periodic prescription audit in private health facilities under the Clinical Establishment Act to keep a tab on Cesarean section deliveries, Lok Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste said that the government has already written to all the states and the Union Territories, sharing a WHO statement, to conduct a periodic prescription audit in private health facilities under the Clinical Establishment Act.

"They have also been informed that prescription audit can be extended to public health facilities," he said while replying to a question that whether the government was aware that the WHO has recommended that Cesarean section surgeries should normally constitute 10-15 per cent of the total deliveries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its April 2015 statement, had said that at population level, Cesarean section rates higher than 10 per cent are not associated with the reductions in maternal and newborn mortality rates.

He said a communication has also gone to Federation of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) which is the largest professional body for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in India for sharing the WHO guidance note to all their state chapters and those registered with them.

The Minister said as per the recent National Family Health Survey (NHFS-4), the incidence of Cesarean section in India is 17.2 per cent.