Rouhani’s Minister of Health admitted that due to lack of attention to the field of obstetrics, the number of C-Section operations in Iran has topped world records.
Seyed Hassan Hashemi told a gathering of directors of obstetrics groups, “The field of obstetrics became single-sex after the (1979) Revolution. On the other hand, the country’s health administration became single-sex, too, and most of the directors were men. This is how the field of obstetrics fell from grace and suffered major damages.”
Hashemi added, “Our C-Section figures have made world record because of such lack of attention to obstetrics. Just as such lack of attention lasted 20 years, it will take the same amount of time to compensate the damages by following up and attending to this field.”
The Health Minister also acknowledged that the continued existence of some 20 to 30 thousand unemployed midwives over the next few years will undermine the field. (The state-run Mehr news agency – January 15, 2017)