Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 2;20(3):2705.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032705.

Development of a Framework for On-Demand Caesarean Section in Romania

Ion Petre  1   2 , Flavia Barna  3 , Cosmin Cîtu  4 , Florin Gorun  5 , Oana-Maria Gorun  6 , Laurentiu Cezar Tomescu  7 , Adrian Apostol  8 , Anca Bordianu  9 , Cristian Furau  10 , Izabella Petre  4
Affiliations

Development of a Framework for On-Demand Caesarean Section in Romania

Ion Petre et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Caesarean section rates have continued to trend upward in most countries, including Romania, creating a number of economic challenges. In the public health system, there is no regulation for performing Caesarean sections on demand; it is often done unlawfully, and in private hospitals, it is a real business. Thus, this study aims to investigate the budgetary impact at a hospital level and the profit per procedure by introducing on-demand caesarean sections for a fee.

Methods: This study was conducted in one of the largest maternity units in Western Romania-the "Bega" Maternity Clinic of the Timisoara County Emergency Hospital. For the analysis, the difference between a proposed occupancy rate (between 50 and 85%, increasing every 5 percent) and the actual occupancy rate was calculated. Considering that this difference can be used to admit patients to receive Caesarean sections on demand for a fee, the profit that could be obtained during the study period was calculated.

Results: It is reported that between 238 (proposed occupancy rate of 50%) and 4683 patients (a proposed occupancy rate of 85%) could have benefited from on-demand caesarean section surgery in 2017-2019. Between RON 419,999 and RON 8,551,636 could be obtained in the 3 years of study by implementing caesarean section against payment.

Conclusion: The implementation of a system of on-demand payment for caesarean sections in Romania would bring significant profits to the hospital budget.

Keywords: budget-impact; c-section; economic analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Islam M.A., Sathi N.J., Hossain M.T., Jabbar A., Renzaho A.M.N., Islam S.M.S. Caesarean Delivery and Its Association with Educational Attainment, Wealth Index, and Place of Residence in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Meta-Analysis. Sci. Rep. 2022;12:5554. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09567-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Volpe F.M. Correlation of Cesarean Rates to Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates: An Ecologic Study of Official International Data. Rev. Panam. Salud Pública. 2011;29:303–308. doi: 10.1590/S1020-49892011000500001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Petrou S., Khan K. An Overview of the Health Economic Implications of Elective Caesarean Section. Appl. Health Econ. Health Policy. 2013;11:561–576. doi: 10.1007/s40258-013-0063-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Caesarean Section Rates Continue to Rise, Amid Growing Inequalities in Access. [(accessed on 11 November 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2021-caesarean-section-rates-continu....
    1. Large Differences in Share of Caesarean Births. [(accessed on 11 November 2022)]. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20191217-1.