Aristocratic birth in Iran .. The obsession with numbers drives mothers to choose when to give birth

Jazeera Net-Tehran

Like any pregnant women who did not feel the pain of labor before the completion of pregnancy, the Iranian Mahesti was talking passionately with three members of her family about the process of caesarean section, which will be subject to shortly to register 8/8/98 as the date of birth of the baby on the national identity card.

My career was not the only one in the waiting room of the surgical operating room in a private hospital north of Tehran, but dozens of other pregnant women were preparing minutes to receive their double joy by embracing the baby and giving him the title of "aristocratic birth."

The obsession with aristocratic birth was not born of the moment, but began more than ten years ago when four numbers of eight lined up in the solar history of Iran (8/8/88) and then led aristocratic birth fever to rise by 50% for the first time in the country.

Stir and controversy
The number of caesarean sections increases during national and religious holidays and special occasions such as the anniversary of the marriage of the parents and the distinctive times of the lineup and repetition of a specific number in the birth certificate, for example the eighth day of the eighth month in the Iranian year 98, to be the date of birth 8/8/98 occasion that the rooms Surgeries days before.

There is hardly any reason to identify some of the dates and occasions for cesarean delivery except for repeated statements such as "a special date of birth or a national occasion we cherish" without full awareness of its damages and complications, according to medical sources.

The phenomenon raised an uproar by raising the number of cesarean deliveries tenfold sometimes, without the medical reasons to preserve the life of the mother or fetus, as well as the risks of surgery and urgent calls for a natural birth.

Hamid Barakati, Director General of the Department of Community, Family and Schools Safety at the Ministry of Health, described the phenomenon as a form of child abuse.He warned that insistence on giving birth at certain times without completing the pregnancy would harm the newborns.He said that the phenomenon is extraneous in his country and is unparalleled in the world.

He pointed out that the completed pregnancy lasts for forty weeks, explaining that premature birth is usually associated with complications such as difficulty in breathing due to lack of maturity of the lungs and members of the immature enough, and said that the baby may need to be born for long periods in hospital.

The official warned pregnant women that early delivery requires contact with medical care centers for weeks and sometimes for several months, and that the complications may develop in others to the stages of ominous.

Amazing numbers
The statistics and health indicators issued by the Ministry of Health a few days ago that the number of births in hospitals in the Republic during the last year of Iran and one million and 350 thousand births, 50% of which Caesarean section.

Assistant Health Minister Erg Harerji expressed the increase in cases of cesarean delivery during the events and what is known as the aristocratic timing of the tragedy, and revealed the rise in the number of cesarean deliveries a few days ago on 8/8/98 distinguished three times in the capital Tehran.

He added - in an interview with Iranian television - that the proportion of cesarean deliveries on the date of 7/7/97 increased by 18% compared with the average of this type of births over the past year, stressing that the normal rate of cases of cesarean delivery should not be 18% of the total births.

While threatening to punish medical institutions that violate the law by cooperating in early obstetrics, Harerji urged pregnant women to give birth naturally, and announced that the ministry provides all necessary services for natural delivery in government hospitals for free.

Legal and religious positions
President of the Scientific Society for Medical Rights Mahmoud Abbasi that the high number of cesarean deliveries on some occasions and times would reduce the quality of treatment and increase the likelihood of medical errors, considering it a flagrant violation of the rights of the fetus.

He added that according to Article 20 of the Constitution, all citizens are equal before the law and enjoy its support for all human rights.``According to this, natural birth is a fundamental right of the fetus and its violation - except in abnormal resources or for medical reasons - is a flagrant violation of the law. ''

He also stressed that receiving bribes by medical staff to provide or postpone delivery dates and surgical operations is an explicit violation of medical charters, and that the doctor is responsible for the repercussions, pointing out that the parents of the fetus will be partners in the crime carried out by the surgeon if the fetus is exposed to any It is makrooh in accordance with article 718 of the Islamic Penal Code.

With the increasing controversy over the phenomenon in this conservative country, many doctrinal questions were sent to the houses of jurists and religious references and the answers vary from one reference to another, but the site "Hadana", which responds to doctrinal questions limited the permissibility of the process to neutralize the damage for pregnant and newborns.