Level of Maternal Awareness Amongst Mothers who had Undergone Elective C/S.

ABSTRACT

Caesarian section (C/S) is a very common obstetric procedure. It had many advantages and disadvantages. In this age of consumer awareness, patient has to give an informed consent before the procedure – means merits and demerits of the procedure shall be known to the patient. She also has the right to choose between different procedures, type of incision and anesthesia, where possible. We have studied that status amongst 100 such patients, only 7% of them being illiterate, who had undergone elective C/S in SNP Hospital, a two tier hospital of Kolkata. The result was shocking. 65% of the mothers did not have any idea regarding the procedure they are undergoing. 1/3rd of the patients even did not know why they are having C/S. None of them was given any choice regarding anesthesia and only 9% regarding incision. A detail of the study is presented.