KARACHI, Sept 26: Basic education is the first step towards primary healthcare, said a Birmingham-based doctor on Friday.”So the doctors, no matter where they practice medicine, should educate people who come in contact with them,” said Dr John Kelly.
Dr Kelly, who has so far taken part in five medical camps and operated upon dozens of Pakistani women having fistula, said this during a meeting which was held on Friday afternoon at the PMA House to honour his services. He said the health professionals could succeed only if they viewed their work as team effort.
“Closing fistula, as we all know, is only half the job. The rest depends on pre- and post-operative care,” said Dr Kelly. The paramedical staff and attendants were as important, if not more, as the doctors.
He was of the view that traditional birth attendants — or dais — should be trained under an ongoing programme. “Training them once is not enough. They should be trained continuously and they should be offered jobs.”
Elaborating upon the reasons for this, Dr Kelly said: “It’s important that the first person a pregnant woman’s family turns to should be trained in the basics of medicine. That’s why training the traditional birth attendants is important.”
Dr Kelly said it was his privilege to work in Pakistan to help alleviate the suffering of women having fistula — a condition in which urine is issued continuously from the body.
Earlier, Dr Nighat Shah introduced the topic of the meeting — “Female Genital Fistula”. She said in the country, more than 300,000 women suffered from pregnancy-related complications every year.
“A large number of these women develop holes in their urinary bladders, causing them to lose control over urine,” she said. “These women are usually thrown out of their homes and pass a miserable life.”
Dr Shershah Syed said Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) was a disease of poverty which caused severe damage to the affected women. In the last five years, he said, 17 camps were organized in various parts of the country in which more than 600 major surgeries were performed.
“In majority of the cases, the simple procedures were undertaken.” He demanded of the government that appropriate facilities be provided so that no Pakistani woman suffered from this terrible ailment.
Every year doctors, graduating from medical colleges in Sindh and working in the UK, provided donations and their services to help alleviate the suffering of the ailing Pakistanis, said Dr Aftab Jokhio. He profusely thanked the people who worked behind the scenes to make the PMA’s medical camps a success.
Dr Naveed Shah said it was possible to repair VVF with the help of laprascope. He advised the young surgeons to handle tissue with extreme care and always respect the dignity of the patients.
Prof M. Saeed Quraishy advised all the family physicians and postgraduate doctors that they should not refer a patient with RVF to surgeons who are not experienced in repairing fistulae. All patients with RVF should be dealt with in three stages.
Prof Peter Bailey, who presided over the meeting, said the Pakistani doctors should work twice as hard as those in the developed countries. “This is so because the disease load is considerably greater here and adequate facilities are not available.”
Stressing the importance of pre- and post-operative care, he said: “Closing a fistula hole is only half the job. Keeping it infection free represents the rest.”
Later, a shield was presented to Dr John Kelly on behalf of the health secretary, government of Sindh, in recognition of his services. The shield was presented by Dr Iqbal Daudpota, a senior official in the health department.
