Garowe Hospital offers fistula treatment for patient mothers

A week free medical camp for obstetric fistula patients kicked off Wednesday at Garowe hospital in the semi-autonomous regional state of Puntland to benefit women.

About half of the patients are women suffering from vesicovaginal fistula while the other half are women with old perineal tears which need reparation too.

Abdisamad Ahmed, the hospital director said “Our aim is to bring on board as many women as possible to benefit from this service that will enable them lead a normal life afterwards.”

The hospital launched an awareness campaign in the town to inform the public of the fistula camp.

Announcements were broadcast on radios and messages were sent by SMS on mobile phones.

The hospital has dedicated a special team including doctors, nurses and its Specialized Reproductive Health clinic for the surgical medical camp.

“One of our key goals in addition to offering reconstructive surgery is training local surgeons on fistula surgery,” said Dr Ahmed.

He said women commonly suffer a lifetime of social rejection when they are unable to seek treatment for fistula.

An obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labour, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or faeces or both.