The Control Yuan formally censured the Department of Health Friday over the continued high rate of caesarean sections in Taiwan, especially in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas. Control Yuan Members Chen Jen-hung and Gau Fehng-shian said at a press conference that the Department of Health has failed to take action to lower the abnormally high rate of C-sections in Taiwan and has attributed the problem to a trend of older first-time mothers who are at higher risk giving birth naturally. Chen said Taiwan's C-section rate, which was between 32 percent and 34 percent from 2001 to 2007, was lower only than Italy's. It was considerably higher than that of Australia, Canada, German, the United Kingdom, the United States and Denmark, he said. These statistics show that the health authorities have not done their job in this regard, Chen said after a meeting of the Control Yuan in which it was decided that the health authorities should take corrective action. In the period 2001 to 2009, the highest rate of C-sections were in Kaohsiung and Pingtung, except for 2004 when it was highest in the Taipei area. Last year, most of the C-sections -- 37.15 percent -- were carried out at clinics. This was a much higher rate than at medical centers which are supposed to handle high-risk cases, Chen said. For example, at a clinic in Hsinchu 80.7 percent of the deliveries were by C-section, at a Keelung clinic it was 67.3 percent and at a Taipei clinic it was 59.6 percent, Chen said. Kao Fehng-shian said that many women choose to have C-sections for cosmetic rather than medical reasons. For others, their choice of C-sections over natural birth is based on fear and ignorance of the fact that the pain is less and recovery faster with natural childbirth, Kao said. Another factor is that of money, according to Chen. Gynecologists get paid much more for a C-section than for a normal delivery, but they should not encourage patients to have this type of surgery or grant requests for C-sections unless it is necessary, Chen said. National Health Insurance payments for C-sections were NT$6.4 billion in 2007, NT$6.2 billion in 2008, and NT$6.1 billion in 2009. A cesarean section is the delivery of a baby via a surgical incision of the abdomen and uterus and is usually performed when it has been medically determined that a vaginal delivery would be high risk. 