Healthcare: Suffer no more
Razia Bibi, 25, never heard the scream of her firstborn, announcing her arrival into the world. She never even got a chance to hold the little bundle of joy in her arms. The baby died even before taking her first breath. What was worse, the childbirth left Bibi to suffer from a debilitating disease called obstetric fistula.
Obstetric fistula is a medical condition where a passageway is formed between the mother’s birth canal and bladder or between the birth canal and rectum. The condition arises when due to prolonged, obstructed labour the baby’s head puts undue pressure on the lining of the woman’s birth canal, eventually ripping through the wall of the rectum or bladder, resulting in chronic urinary or faecal incontinence along with severe pain and infections.
More easily explained if your bowels, urinary and reproductive tracts are considered as a plumbing system, fistula is like bad plumbing as it connects the wrong things together causing problems.
It is unfortunate that thousands of women suffer unnecessarily because of a condition that is not only treatable but also preventable to a large extent
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) survey, “There are around two million women living with fistula in the developing countries of Africa and Asia such as Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.”
Dr Sher Shah Syed, a gynaecologist known for his work in obstetrics and maternal health, lamented, “Around 28,000 women die during childbirth in Pakistan every year due to poor maternal care facilities.”
Though fistula is a completely curable disease, there is little awareness about it. Syed said fistula has a low profile because it mainly affects the “poor, downtrodden women” living in urban slums and distant rural areas. “I never found any upper and middle-class woman suffering from fistula. Thus, it never gets due attention at any level,” he added.
A little-known condition in the developed world, there are many causes of fistula in the developing one.
Dr Sajjad Ahmed, Project Manager Fistula, Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health (PNFWH) estimated that around “4,000 to 5,000 women” suffer from the condition in the country. Millions of women silently suffer from fistula, completely unaware that they can seek medical assistance and lead a normal life. Ahmed said, “We are unable to eradicate it due to ignorance, poverty and the stigma attached to the condition.”
Women with obstetric fistula often suffer social-psychological trauma besides physical pain. Due to constant leakage, they are often abandoned and shunned for being dirty and infertile thus unable to work and socialise.
The best treatment is truly case-dependent, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Koohi Goth Fistula Hospital, in Karachi, is an island of hope for such women. The hospital offers free services including treatment, tests, surgery, and medication to poor patients, coming from all across the country. According to Dr Syed, “The same surgery costs around Rs50, 000 to Rs250, 000 in other private hospitals.”