Eight hundred and 12 women suffering from obstetric fistula (an injury between the bladder and the vagina or between the rectum and the vagina, caused by a long birth) were operated on at the Walter Strangway hospital, in the province of Bié, during the massive surgery campaigns carried out in three years
More than 100 women suffering from this disease, which is considered one of the most serious and tragic birth injuries, will undergo surgery during the 10th massive surgery campaign, which began on Monday, the director revealed to the newspaper OPAÍS -general of the institution, David Abel.
The doctor explained that these are women, elderly people and children who will have their lives back to normal, that is, without the anomalies that this disease causes. The head of the hospital, Walter Strangway, said that only on the second day of this campaign, which will run until the 22nd of January, 108 women were already registered, most of them coming from the province of Moxico.
Of them, 30 went to the hospital specifically to undergo surgery. In David Abel’s opinion, the number of patients tends to increase and, if the medical team cannot operate on all registered patients by the last day, another campaign will be scheduled in the third quarter of this year. This is a procedure that was adopted with a view to satisfying distressed people seeking specialized medical help for this purpose. “The campaigns have had a positive impact on women, considering that many have been living with fistula for more than three, five and 10 years.
Others live with the disease for up to 20 years”, he explained. According to the specialist, many women are abandoned by their husbands and family members because of this disease. He highlighted that others end up having serious psychological problems, as almost all of them lose their jobs. However, he says that, following undergoing surgery, the return of each one’s self-esteem and the joy on their faces has been noticeable.
“They gain dignity, regain a normal life and go back to work”, he stressed. Regarding the symptoms of the disease, she explained that patients with obstetric fistula experience “uncontrolled loss of urine or urinary continence”. To be more precise, he said that normally “people with this disease, when they go to a family member’s house, the nephew is the one who says that their aunt smells pee. The patient, in turn, ends up moving away.”
Given the difficulties that women with this pathology experience when carrying out certain tasks, they end up being discriminated once morest and stigmatized, which forces them to socially isolate themselves. David Abel highlighted that, for the most part, patients are young, aged between 15 and 19, and even attempt suicide. However, they have already recorded the pathology in a 13-year-old child. Regarding the causes of this disease, the general director of the Walter Strangway hospital pointed out early marriage as one of the main causes, although the pathology is also found in older women, that is, in their 30s, 40s and even 60s. .
To prove this, he stated that, in the group of patients undergoing surgery, there are two women who are already elderly. She highlighted that the obstetric fistula also arises due to the complication of childbirth, as well as in those cases of pregnant women in which the fistula causes an abnormal communication between the birth canal and the urethra or with the anus. “The birth canal communicates with the urethra and urine comes out without control,” she explained.
Rural areas with more records of obstetric fistula
“We frequently see these situations in women who live in rural areas, where healthcare is not favorable. There is a considerable distance between the house and the medical center. They do not have prenatal care and their level of education is low”, explained David Abel. Such cases have occurred in women who go into labor for a long time, that is, it takes three to five days to give birth, or even in situations known as obstructed labor. This occurs in cases where the baby’s head is larger and there is difficulty in passing it through the vaginal canal, due to the fact that the pregnant woman is a minor.
However, he said, training of midwives at community level should be more comprehensive, promoting family planning and health education; By following this, the fistula will be eliminated. “Currently, in developed countries, this pathology does not exist”, she highlighted. According to David Abel, as it is a national unit, they receive patients from different provinces such as Cuando Cubango, Huambo, Cuanza-Sul, Benguela, Malanje, Luanda, Cuanza-Norte and Moxico. “We appeal to all women suffering from obstetric fistula to go to Walter Strangway hospital and there they will be welcomed and the pathology will be resolved”.
As for human resources, Daniel Abel guaranteed that all hospital employees are involved in the campaign, but they also have the support of the Azancot de Menezes mother and child hospital, in the province of Luanda, from the beginning. Walter Strangway Hospital has a capacity for 320 beds, has 1,386 permanent employees, 127 intern doctors from different specialties and 57 Angolan and Cuban specialist doctors.