An external review of the practice of symphysiotomy in Irish hospitals from the 1950s to the 1980s is to be commissioned by the Department of Health.
The announcement came yesterday following a meeting between the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and members of Survivors of Symphysiotomy, a group representing hundreds of women who underwent the operation as an alternative to Caesarean section.
The procedure, which involved sawing through the woman's pubic bone either immediately before or, in some cases, after the birth of her child, was often performed during obstructed labour and was aimed at permanently widening the pelvis.
It has left the women, many of whom say their consent was never sought for the operations, suffering from a range of conditions including incontinence, acute back pain and mobility problems.
While disappointed that Mr Martin did not indicate he would immediately establish a sworn public inquiry into what happened them, spokeswoman for the group, Ms Rose Magee, said the meeting with him was a "very satisfactory first step".
She said Mr Martin was "very gentle and very sympathetic but he couldn't get around all the issues we wanted attended to".
She is hopeful he will still establish an inquiry.
Mr Martin indicated the review of symphysiotomy in the State would be carried out by an international expert in obstetrics.
Furthermore, he promised affected woman that they would be medically assessed and treated, abroad if necessary.
In addition, a helpline will be established and each health board will be asked to appoint a liaison person who survivors can contact. They will also have to provide the women with counselling.
However, the issue of compensation for the women, and whether the Catholic ethos of hospitals at the time had led to the procedure being performed, was not discussed, Ms Magee said. Both sides will meet again in a number of weeks.
Last night, Mr John Gormley, the Green Party's health spokesman, said it was regrettable that Mr Martin had not agreed to some form of public inquiry into symphysiotomy cases.
Figures show that 348 of the operations were carried out in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda between 1950 and 1983, while hundreds more were carried out in maternity hospitals in Dublin and Cork.
Many of the women have only discovered in the last year, after obtaining hospital records, that a symphysiotomy was performed on them.