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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1989-12-13, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1989. Letter to the editor Surgery needless THE EDITOR: More than $20 million is wasted annually in Ontario on unnecessary caesarean sections, according to calculations by the VBAC Associa tion of Ontario. Close to 11,000 caesareans are performed each year in the pro vince on women who have had previous caesareans. While one in eight may be necessary for other reasons, the VBAC Association estimates that costs resulting from the increased length of hospital stays for unneed ed caesareans amount to more than $19 million. When medical expens es and costs of the frequent post-surgical complications are in cluded, the figure soars beyond $20 million. The practice of routine repeat caesarean sections has been in creasingly condemned by medical researchers as being less safe for both mother and child than vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC). The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada in 1986 endorsed a statement recommend ing VBAC. Despite this, in a 12-month period from April 1, 1987, to March 31, 1988, over 90 per cent of expectant mothers who had a previous caesarean were subsequently delivered by routine repeat caesarean in Ontario. The current rate of caesarean sections in the province remains over 20 per cent which is unaccept ably high, according to World Health Organization standards. The VBAC Association of Ontario estimates this rate would fall to less than 13 per cent if vaginal birth after caesarean became the accept ed standard of obstetrical care. Caesareans represented 20.18 per cent (27,167) of the 134,633 births recorded in Ontario during the 12-month period of 1987-88. Of these caesareans, over 40 per cent (10,851) were performed on women who had a previous caesarean section. The association concedes that approximately one caesarean de livery in eight (a total of 1,315) may have been necessary for reasons other than the simple fact that the mother had a previous caesarean, leaving 9,536 caesareans that could and should have been avoided. Caesarean mothers usually stay four additional days in a hospital at a cost of $500 per day for an average total of $2,000. When multiplied by the 9,536 avoidable caesareans, the unjustified extra cost comes to $19,072,000. This represents 38,184 needless occu pancies of hospital beds. In addition, there are costs that do not apply uniformly to all caesarean mothers and occasion ally apply to mothers giving birth Government has double standard THE EDITOR: I would certainly support the plea for a better partnership be tween politicians and educators made in the brief to Jack Riddell by the Huron Public Education Net work (Citizen, Nov. 15). While insisting on making Grade 9 into yet another year of elemen tary school by banning streaming, Ontario MPP’s will continue their own elite program to select Parlia mentary Pages. To be a page, a student must have 80 per cent in Grade 7 elementary school. Perhaps Ontario’s M.P.P.s should develop an integrated, destreamed page selection process. Our M.P.P.s ought to experience the same joys brought to classrooms by current educational fads for integration and destreaming. Dan A. Webster Wingham. vaginally. But by conservative esti mates, unnecessary repeat caesar eans account for more than $1 million in additional costs for extended hospital stays for the newborn, operating room and anes thetists’ fees, the frequent attend ance of a pediatrician at the delivery, laboratory charges, drugs for relief of post-operative pain, the slightly higher obstetricians’ char ges and the higher rate of compli cations for mother and newborn after major surgery. The VBAC Association of Ontario is a non-profit province wide group of parents and health professionals seeking to reduce Ontario’s caesarean section rate by supporting parents in birthing nor mally after previous caesarean(s). J. Harris, Blyth, Ont. and VBAC Association of Ontario 8 Gilgorm Rd. Toronto, M5N 2M5 Caroline Suffrin, Co-ordinator [416] 483-3370. Test your memory and your reflexes with our popular Pocket Repeat Power pencil sharpener is a super stocking stuffer j Battery-operated, b Includes a spare blade. 61-2795 Compact AM/FM receiver Built-in FM-AFC left/right slide-action volume/balance controls, headset. 12-123 Convenient calculator Display angle lor viewing comfort 3-key memory, auto-off With battery. < 65^563 Come see the new look of our completely re-designed store An ultimate video game system Turbografx-16 gives you 4 limes the "playn „ power" of the leading video game system. Comes complete with Turbopad hand-held controller and the Tur bochip game card. 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These are the people who decided to flee the communist regime in Vietnam and, instead of heading across land to the nearby country of Thailand, set out instead by boat to find their way to another country that would take them. Some of them ended up in Indon esia, the Philippines, Malaysia and some even ended up in Thailand. Canada took many of these people as refugees and by and large they have turned into good citizens. Our church took two families, one at a time, and we have been very pleased with the result. It has been the general belief that the saga of the boat people is history but this is far from the truth. They are still coming in considerable numbers and their exploits remind me a great deal of the seafaring Polynesians who wandered all over the south Pacific to find new homes. The Vietna mese boat people have been of late turning up in such far off places as Japan and Hong Kong with the latter the favourite destination. At last count more than 25 boats have arrived in Japan, a trip of some 2,000 miles. The boats have been packed to the gunnels and have brought over 2,000 men, women and children, which is twice the number of last year. The question which the reluctant hosts are most inclined to ask is whether these people have left Vietnam because of persecution or simply because they are in search of a better life than they have been able to make for themselves in Vietnam. The interesting point in this app roach is that relatively few of the migrants have been able to per suade the Japanese authorities that they have had to leave because ofp potential persecution; far too often it appears to be a case of wanting to better themselves. However, what Japan has to contend with is nothing compared with the current situation in Hong Kong. In the British crown colony, which is due to be handed back to China in 1997, there are almost 60,000 people crammed into refu gee camps where the conditions can generally be described as appalling. Late in August a riot broke out among the inhabitants of one of the camps, a riot that had to be put down by police. It was only a few days later that three people Continued on page 23 Radio /hack 887-6851