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Women's Health problems in Pakistan |
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| a) The virgins were only examined by naked eye and 35 out of these 85 were only having a watery discharge. These women were reassured and provided with advice for better personal hygiene; the other 50 were having monilia infection, confirmed by discharge. They were given advice and treatment. b) Out of 305 married women , one patient complained of foul smelling discharge after birth. She came to the clinic on the 25th day postpartum. On examination, there was a hole in her posterior fornix and there was lot of pus and bloody discharge coming out of it. She was sent to hospital for admission but they sent her back. The next day, I used personal resources to get her admitted to the Gynaecology ward. She died there on the third day after admission. - One patient was having VVF, she was referred to hospital for an operation. - Thirteen patients were having third degree utero-vaginal prolapse with ulceration of the cervix. They were referred to hospital for care. - Fifty seven patients had second degree utero-vaginal prolapse. They were also referred to hospital for care. - Twenty patients were actually having stress incontinence, they were also guided to hospital. - Ninety were only having uncomplicated monilial infection. They were given treatment and advice re better personal hygiene c) The rest of the 123 women out of 305 had moderate to severe infections. They were advised for HVS. Only 25 agreed and were later treated according to the laboratory report. The rest of the 98 women were given treatment for two weeks; 70 responded very well to treatment and were followed up successfully. d) Our real problem was the remaining 28 women who were having very severe pelvic infection and cervical ulcers. They were asked to have a Pap test. 15 did not come back, 2 went to hospital for this test with our reference, and 11 agreed to have a test at the clinic. The laboratory report indicated that two were having borderline dyskaryotic changes. They are being closely watched. |
It
was realized that there is a great need for health education regarding
personal hygiene and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The following
very important observations were recorded; - Almost no women take a bath during menses (5 to 7 days) - Almost no women take a bath before intercourse; they only bathe after intercourse and at least 4 to 6 hours after the act - Most women use pieces of old bed sheets during menses as a sanitary pad; only a few use cotton and none were using sanitary pads. - The majority of women do not wear suitable under clothes To address the problem of unwanted pregnancies in married women, the following question was formulated. Question Will a programme of "health education and affordable facilities for family planning for married women of Dhoke Kala Khan at Maqbool Clinic, organized by Dr Manzoor, Mrs. Raheela Manzoor, Miss Sobia, Miss Shabana & Miss Sajida and other supporting persons/organizations for one year reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies by 10% in married women? This activity was started at random in October of 1999 but we started to keep records formally from 01-05-00. It is actually a joint venture with the Government of our province, Punjab, and a very resourceful NGO called Green Star. The Government and the NGO provide us with very cheap supplies of family planning medicines and accessories and we in turn provide our non-profit service to the women of area. The NGO has also organised training workshop for us. During 2001, about 275 women came to us for advice regarding family planning. All of these were briefed about available facilities and especially about "Emergency Family planning". About 55 never came back for advice or services. 25 preferred an IUD and were guided to nearby centres for insertion of the device as we do not yet have this facility. Out of the remaining, 30 selected condoms, 117 started injections with us and 48 preferred pills. |
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