Private hospitals in Chhattisgarh saw a higher caesarean rate in 2023, with 13.80% of births conducted through caesarean sections compared to 7.83% in government hospitals, according to the recently released Annual Vital Statistics 2023 report by Directorate of Economics and Statistics, C’garh. Overall, government hospitals accounted for 71.27% of normal deliveries, while in private hospitals, only 5.63% of births were normal deliveries, suggesting a preference for surgical births in private healthcare facilities. The data reveals that private facilities lean more toward caesarean procedures compared to government hospitals, where normal deliveries are more common. The report also sheds light on gender distribution in live births, showing that 51.08% of births were male, 48.91% female, and 0.01% transgender.

 

The average state-wide sex ratio at birth was recorded at 957 females per 1,000 males. Sarangarh-Bilaigarh stood out with a sex ratio of 1,000, indicating equal numbers of female and male births. Dhamtari and Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur followed closely with high ratios of 999, suggesting nearly balanced gender distributions at birth. Other districts like Korba (996), Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki (995), and Kondagaon (995) were near parity. In contrast, some districts recorded lower ratios, with Sakti showing the lowest at 923, and Koriya and Surguja at 924 and 927, respectively. Urban areas such as Durg (930), Bilaspur (938) and Raipur (941) also reported lower-than-average ratios.

 

The state registered a total of 492,733 births across both government and private hospitals, indicating that institutional births are common. A majority of the births occurred in hospital settings, but rural areas still see traditional birth attendants and family members assisting in deliveries, showing that traditional practices remain in place. In addition, there were 4,290 stillbirths recorded across the state, with males accounting for 55.01%, females at 44.90%, and a few cases identified as transgender. The report also detailed the methods of delivery across rural and urban settings. In rural areas, most births took place in government hospitals, while urban areas had a significant portion of deliveries in both government and private hospitals. Overall, the state reported a total of 575,467 attended births, spanning both institutional and non-institutional deliveries for the year.