More women are suffering from Obstetric Fistula in the country due to prolonged labour.
At least, 1500 cases of the disease are reported annually at health facilities. Of the figure, 53 percent involve married women, statistics available at the Ghana Health Service and made available to The Spectator, has revealed.
Disease
Obstetric fistula is a hole that develops in the birth canal usually caused by prolonged obstructed labour (when a baby is not able to come out of the birth canal easily).
Affected women leak urine or faeces or both through the vagina which leave them to a smelly condition as a result are isolated, stigmatized and discriminated against.
Women who develop obstetric fistula usually have chronic skin condition caused by direct irritation of urine, while others develop blisters and sores around the thighs as a result of inconsistent urinary and friction.
It is also established that obstetric fistula cases are most reported in communities in the three Northern Regions, where harmful traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation and early child marriages are prevalent.
Treatment
Head of the The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Decentralised Office at Tamale, Mr Mammah Tenii, told The Spectator that treatment was available at the health facilities for free and covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The cost of one fistula surgery is the cedi equivalent of 400 to 500 dollars but thankfully, he said, the service was covered by the NHIS.
Affected Patient
A fistula survivor, Cynthia Sinabisi, 42, and resident of Bawku in the Upper East Region, told The Spectator that her ordeal begun when she gave birth to her first son, 13 years ago after a cesarean operation at the Bawku General Hospital.
Three days after the operation, “I realized that I was passing urine continuously and had to confide to a Midwife at the Bolga Government Hospital where I was told to wait for a doctor to examine me,” she said.
“Two weeks after I went back to the hospital for review I was told that I was suffering from fistula and was therefore given Catheter, a small medical tube inserted into a body cavity to remove urine for patients unable to pass urine” she added.
Having carried this for one and half years, urinating through the rubber, with all the associated stigma, discrimination, and isolation from friends and relations, she said she was finally referred to the now Tamale Teaching Hospital by one Dr. Banda.
Madam Sinabisi told The Spectator that the hospital authorities arranged a staff bus to convey her and 51 other fistula patients from Tamale to the Tema Habour on board a floating hospital vessel (Mercy Ship) in which a medical team perform various forms of surgeries on them to restore their dignity.
“Today, I live happily with my husband and son and I wish to say a big thank you to the UNFPA and the government for the support” she stated.
Mrs. Sinabisi is now moving from one community to the other to sensitize the women about fistula treatment.
Way Forward
Dr. Ayuba Abdulai, a Specialist Obstetrics Gynecologist at the Yendi Government Hospital in the Northern Region, stressed the need for more nurses and anesthetics to be posted to the hospital to help deal with fistula cases there.
According to him, due to the awareness created about fistula, many women were coming out to seek treatment thereby, putting stress on the limited facilities.
He said extra beds and other logistics were needed, including incentives to encourage personnel to accept postings to the hospital to augment staff to enhance effective health care delivery.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a global campaign to end all forms of obstetrics fistula by 2003 and Ghana joined the campaign in 2005.
By Norman Cooper