This article is from page 5 of the 2006-04-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 5 JPG
MORE than 200 women in Clare are estimated to have opted for elective Caesarean sections last year.
According to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney, 44.8 per cent of Caesarean sections performed in the country’s public hospitals in 2005 were elective.
The Minister was responding to a question by Clare Deputy James Breen (Ind).
She informed him that a new collating system, allowing separate classification of elective and emergency sections, was not available before 2005.
Last month The Clare People revealed that 27 Clare women who gave birth in the National University Hospital Galway, opted for an elective Caesarean section.
One in three Clare women giving birth in the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick also had a caesarean section. But it is unknown exactly how many were classified as emergency and how many were elective.
According to the Perinatal Statistics for 2002, the Caesarean section rate in Irish hospitals increased by 72 per cent in less than a decade. In 2005, 30 percent of births in the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick were be c-section.