Health Minister Zahid Malik has advised the doctors to not operate cesarean sections on their patients unless there are extreme complications.
His remarks came on Tuesday (May 28) during a conference on the occasion of Safe Motherhood Day.
“Our advice to reduce birth-related death is that the mother should be brought to the hospital,” he said.
The minister said that although Bangladesh hasn’t been able to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in terms of reducing death while giving birth, the number has come down.
He said that in 2017, 176 out of every 100,000 died while giving birth and the number has been reduced to 172 in the 2018-19 year.
“The government is trying to bring the number down to 70 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He added that number can be reduced if nutrition rate goes up and poverty rate comes down.