QUETTA: Chief Executive of the Kidney Centre Quetta Professor Haq Nawaz has urged the Balochistan government to utilise all available resources to control the increase in fistula cases in the province.

Addressing a function held on Wednesday to mark International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, he said that 4,000 to 5,000 women were afflicted with fistula in Pakistan every year and, as a result, being segregated in their houses. In Balochistan 16,000 fistula cases had been registered over the last few years, Prof Nawaz added. He advised the provincial government to establish three centres for fistula treatment in Balochistan.

Prof Haq stressed the need for launching awareness campaigns to guide women about causes of fistula, saying that poverty, lack of family planning and trained health staff and inadequate health facilities were contributing to the spread of fistula in the province, but the society was not paying attention to this issue.

“Unexpected delays and complications during delivery are the main cause of fistula which can be eradicated only with better medical care for women.”

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019