Accouchements par césarienne : la Turquie punit plus de 100 médecins (média)
More than 100 gynecologists and obstetricians performing cesarean sections in Turkey have been fined or even suspended by the Ministry of Health, the BirGun newspaper reported on Saturday.
Turkey has the highest cesarean section rate among the 38 OECD countries, with approximately 615 procedures per 1,000 live births in 2023.
Last year, the Turkish government launched the "Decade of the Family" campaign to counter the declining birth rate, which has resulted in a desire to exert greater control over women's childbirth arrangements.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a practicing Muslim who encourages women to opt for so-called "natural" childbirth, wants to tackle the record number of elective cesarean sections in his country.
His government also banned, in April 2025, the practice of such interventions in private health facilities in the absence of medical justification.
According to the BirGun newspaper, citing figures provided by medical associations across the country, more than 100 doctors have been fined for performing cesarean sections, a measure that has sparked outrage among health professionals.
The website of the Antalya Medical Chamber stated that obstetricians had "received warnings, been subject to disciplinary investigations, been temporarily suspended from their practice and forced to undergo prenatal training, due to the high rates of cesarean sections observed in the country".
An obstetrician working at a private hospital in Sakarya, near Istanbul, was dismissed at the request of the Ministry of Health due to a high rate of cesarean sections, and then suspended for six months, according to the news site Diken.
During this period, the doctor must undergo training in a public hospital and pass an exam, the same media outlet specifies, indicating that he will only be able to resume practicing medicine if he succeeds.
For Dr. Ayse Gultekingil, an official with the Turkish Medical Association, sanctioning doctors will not solve the problem of the high cesarean rate in Turkey, which is "structural" in nature.
"The cesarean rate in Turkey exceeds 60%. However, the method of delivery reflects various problems within the Turkish health system," she pointed out to BirGun.
Health professionals explained to AFP that cesarean sections save time - 30 minutes, compared to 12 hours for a classic delivery - and reduce the risk of legal action in case of complications, thus guaranteeing the safety of both the doctor and the women.
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