Andhra Pradesh government launches midwife training drive to reduce C-section deliveries
The first-of-its-kind initiative aims to increase the rate of natural deliveries by deploying 1,264 specially trained midwives across 86 govt hospitals with high delivery rates.
The programme, funded under the National Health Mission (NHM), includes an intensive 18-month training for each midwife. The training will focus on all stages of childbirth, including expulsion of the baby, placenta, fetal membranes, and physiological stages of labour.
Each midwife will also receive a monthly stipend during training. The estimated cost of training per midwife is Rs 2.5 lakh.
According to govt health records, 56.12% of all deliveries in Andhra Pradesh during 2024-25 were C-sections. While govt hospitals accounted for 41.4% of these, private hospitals contributed the remaining. Officials cite lack of awareness and skill among existing staff nurses as a key reason for the high C-section rate in govt hospitals.
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To address this, the new programme includes measures to train nurses and improve support for natural deliveries.
Yadav has instructed health officials to expand the programme to primary health centres (PHCs) in rural and tribal regions, where delivery volumes are high. He stressed on the importance of deploying at least one trained midwife at each PHC to ensure safe and effective support for natural births.
Speaking to TOI, state maternal health additional director Dr Anil Kumar said training for about 60 midwives has been already completed and they have been deployed at various govt hospitals across the state.
When asked about plans to keep a tab on C-section deliveries at private hospitals in the state, he said the govt has been conducting criss-cross C-section audit inspections at private hospitals with 100% C-sections deliveries.
A five-member team comprising of the DMHO, anaesthesian, pediatrician, gynaecologist, and project officer visit the hospitals and examine the C-section deliveries case sheets and check whether Robson Classification model was followed or not.
"If private hospitals show no improvements in C-section deliveries in the next three months after the audit inspection, they would be removed from Aarogya Sri empanelled hospitals," Anil Kumar added.
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