The Holy Family Virika hospital in Fort Portal town, Kabarole district, Uganda is holding its first camp to treat women who are having a problem of obstetric vescico- vaginal fistulae (VVFs). The camp that started on Monday is treating women for free.
The hospital director, Dr Sr Pricilla Busingye, said that fistula is an abnormal connection between the vagina and urinary tract, always involving the bladder and often the urethra. Dr Sr Busingye, who is also the hospitals’ obstetrician and gynecologist specialist, explained that fistula is caused by unrelieved obstructed labour, which results in prolonged pressure on the pubic bone from the baby’s head, causes holes in the bladder, leaving a woman leaking urine and feaces without control.
“Women suffering from fistula keep leaking urine without control and it is such a miserable state that they are always socially excluded. The urine is uncontrollable and they do not have the experience of sleeping in a dry bed. We want to treat them for free and take care of their costs because we want to restore women’s dignities,” she said. She added that in many cases of unrelieved obstructed labour the baby will die during labour.
Fistula is a big problem in Western Uganda, particularly in the districts of Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, Bundibugyo, Kasese and Kibale. The most affected age group is between 15 to 25 years old.
Fistula patient suffers much more than a hole in the bladder; their whole well being, both physical and mental, is damaged. In extreme cases of unrelieved obstructed labour , a woman’s bladder will be completely destroyed or she may die of exhaustion or a ruptured uterus.
Stigma
Mariam Tushemerirwe, 23, a resident of Kakabara in Kyegegwa district says fistula led her to attempted suicide three times as she could no longer bear the isolation and stigma from people around her. “I was tired of this situation and just wanted to die. It feels so bad leaking urine everyday none stop. Everybody isolated me saying that I was cursed,” she said.
Tushemerirwe experienced obstructive labour at the age of 15 and since then she has been leaking. She said that her in-laws advised her husband to abandon her but he refused. “My in-laws advised my husband to chase away because I smell of urine and am not good enough to be his wife anymore,” she added.
Jacqueline Kemigabo, from Mbagani, Busoro sub-country in Kabarole district, is grateful to husband Richard Sanyu for his support and care during the four years she has suffered with fistula disease. “All people run away from me. The only person I have on side is my husband and God,” the mother of five said.
Monica Arituha, another fistula patient, lamented that in 2008 she conceived her first born but when time for delivering came she could not afford transport to go to the hospital. Arituha added that her relatives only looked for the money to take her to the hospital when she developed complications.
“I spent two days in the village and by the time I came to Fort Portal hospital the baby had died inside my womb and my uterus was rooting. The doctors were left with no option but to remove it, and my bladder was also affected. That’s how I got fistula which has left me leaking for close to three years,” Arituha said.
Arituha came to terms with her condition and ignored people who where gossiping about her situation. “People have talked and got tired because I don’t care what they say about me, I decided to ignore them so that I can get peace of mind,” she added.
Hope restored
“God has kept me for eight years and I am looking forward to having a new and normal life after being treated of this shameful disease,” Tushemerirwe said.
Dr Sr Busingye said the hospital has a heart for the people, which is why they have come to the rescue of women with this special health need. “Our primary aim is to restore the dignity of women, to help them have surgery, cure them and give them hope by making them understand that suffering from fistula is not a curse and the end of the world,” she said.
However, Dr Sr Busingye said that 90 percent of patients experience slowly recover, which can take up to two years. She said that many women delay to seek healthcare, while others lack transport to reach the health facility for treatment. L
ast year, Holy Family Virika hospital delivered 593 women in Cesarean section, of these 60 percent had obstructed labour. The majority of these cases led to fistula and other complications.
Prevention
Dr Busingye said, by solving delays in labour, fistula is preventable. Delivering education to under skilled birth attendants can also help woman have information about good health seeking behaviour. She also said that fistula can be cured by skilled surgery but was quick to add that some people cannot be cured due to the extent of the injury.
The camp will see over 50 women treated.
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