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Ex-fistula patient gives some hints
2007-08-12 10:36:37
By Evans Rubara
Forty-year-old Selina Kasim, a mother of six, worries over the increasing cases reported on women and girls suffering from the destructive Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) to which she was also a victim.
Selina Kasim says she went into labour for her sixth child early one morning in January this year at her home near Moshi but without the feeling of normal labour pains for a prolonged 24 hours.
`At first I did not feel the normal pains of labour. I just had a fever and flu. Later I began experiencing some pains in my stomach and bladder.
After 24 hours of feeling unwell I arrived at a hospital near my home and was given a caesarean section only later to have more complications as my uterus had erupted and the doctors reported that a hole had formed in my bladder,` she says.
She explains: `Tragically, the baby did not survive after the operation. I received treatment for the uterus but not the hole in my bladder. I had a tube and a bag fitted to control the urine.
I was to visit a dispensary after every two weeks but all was not well and I had this feeling which was accompanied by smell from urine and people used to sit far from me as a result.`
`It was uncomfortable and I was not able to do any work. The children aged between 11 and 19 year and my husband were supportive and had to do my share at home.
I was indeed embarrassed about my problem,` she narrates, adding that after five months of permanent discomfort and without control over her bladder, she went to the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) in Dar es Salaam on the advice of her local hospital.
`At CCBRT the doctors performed fistula repair surgery. Just two weeks after the operation I was feeling better and all the discomfort has disappeared.
I am living a normal life,` she says joyfully, and quickly adds:
`It is common among women to hide and live in isolation due to the bad feeling but if they come out they will receive treatment and live normal lives.
Husbands also should support their wives if they notice such health condition.`
The chief executive officer of CCBRT, Erwin Telemans, says: `Fistula operations are conducted free of charge.
Vesico Vaginal Fistula is caused by prolonged labour and rape, and the highest rates are found in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.`
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