‘Being pregnant was never this difficult’
“I don’t trust doctors,” says Zehra. “It is safer to get a baby delivered in the presence of a ‘dai’ (midwife),”.
KARACHI:
Forty-five-year-old Zehra, a flood survivor at a camp in Razzaqabad, is expected to give birth to her ninth child within the next three days. She and her husband asked the camp authorities to give them money so that they can go back home to Thatta and have the child there.
“I don’t trust doctors,” Zehra told The Express Tribune when she was asked why she doesn’t want to go to the hospital referred to her by the medical team at the camp.
“It is safer to get a baby delivered in the presence of a ‘dai’ (midwife),” she added.
While most babies were born at the camp, five even had to be delivered on the road. At two months, most of these babies are skin and bones, while four babies and a woman have already lost their lives at the camp, said the IDPs, who expressed their reservations about the medical services.
However, camp authorities and doctors claimed that only one child has died during a complicated delivery and insisted that the hospitals were better equipped to provide care to the pregnant women. They also refused to give the IDPs money to go back to their hometowns for the deliveries.
“So far, 29 deliveries have taken place at the camp and only one baby has died,” said 27-year-old Nafees, a midwife at the camp who also runs her own clinic in Orangi Town. “In many cases, the IDPs ask for money [to go home] while we want them to go to the hospital. [The pregnant women resist till] the last minute when the lives of both the child and the mother are in danger,” she added.
A battle of wills exacerbates the problem. “Where we want to get our wives treated is our wish. The government should facilitate us, otherwise we will all protest,” said Zehra’s husband, Bhoromal, who claimed that the medicine given to his wife was not effective. Zehra is one of the 128 pregnant women who were registered with the authorities at the Pipri relief camp when they came to Karachi after losing their houses in the floods, according to the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) officials.
“However, there are more than 400 pregnant women [at the Pipri camp] but most of them don’t get registered with the camp authorities,” said Imran Abro, also displaced person at Pipri.
“Most of the women living in camps are in poor health, as are their children. In many cases, they hesitate to take advantage of the services provided to them. This adds to their problems,” said Dr Sajjad Siddiqui of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan.
Doctors note a trend of avoiding going to the doctor in almost all the camps across the province.
The people need to be convinced to take advantage of the facilities provided to them. “If medical methods are not followed, newborns will have to deal with complexities such as malnutrition and physical problems,” he said.
Around 8,000 people are currently living at the Pipri camp, which has been set up in a warehouse. The camp has been divided into five blocks and a medical camp has one male doctor and two midwives.
Bin Qasim DDO revenue Aslam Khoso, who is in charge of the camp, said that the authorities are trying to provide them all possible help. “We have to fight against this mindset that has been exposed during the floods,” Siddiqui added.
Around 1,442 pregnant women have been registered at 22 camps set up by the CDGK. Fifty-two women have delivered under the supervision of midwives while 143 have been referred to hospitals due to complications, according to the data compiled by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2010.
Forty-five-year-old Zehra, a flood survivor at a camp in Razzaqabad, is expected to give birth to her ninth child within the next three days. She and her husband asked the camp authorities to give them money so that they can go back home to Thatta and have the child there.
“I don’t trust doctors,” Zehra told The Express Tribune when she was asked why she doesn’t want to go to the hospital referred to her by the medical team at the camp.
“It is safer to get a baby delivered in the presence of a ‘dai’ (midwife),” she added.
While most babies were born at the camp, five even had to be delivered on the road. At two months, most of these babies are skin and bones, while four babies and a woman have already lost their lives at the camp, said the IDPs, who expressed their reservations about the medical services.
However, camp authorities and doctors claimed that only one child has died during a complicated delivery and insisted that the hospitals were better equipped to provide care to the pregnant women. They also refused to give the IDPs money to go back to their hometowns for the deliveries.
“So far, 29 deliveries have taken place at the camp and only one baby has died,” said 27-year-old Nafees, a midwife at the camp who also runs her own clinic in Orangi Town. “In many cases, the IDPs ask for money [to go home] while we want them to go to the hospital. [The pregnant women resist till] the last minute when the lives of both the child and the mother are in danger,” she added.
A battle of wills exacerbates the problem. “Where we want to get our wives treated is our wish. The government should facilitate us, otherwise we will all protest,” said Zehra’s husband, Bhoromal, who claimed that the medicine given to his wife was not effective. Zehra is one of the 128 pregnant women who were registered with the authorities at the Pipri relief camp when they came to Karachi after losing their houses in the floods, according to the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) officials.
“However, there are more than 400 pregnant women [at the Pipri camp] but most of them don’t get registered with the camp authorities,” said Imran Abro, also displaced person at Pipri.
“Most of the women living in camps are in poor health, as are their children. In many cases, they hesitate to take advantage of the services provided to them. This adds to their problems,” said Dr Sajjad Siddiqui of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan.
Doctors note a trend of avoiding going to the doctor in almost all the camps across the province.
The people need to be convinced to take advantage of the facilities provided to them. “If medical methods are not followed, newborns will have to deal with complexities such as malnutrition and physical problems,” he said.
Around 8,000 people are currently living at the Pipri camp, which has been set up in a warehouse. The camp has been divided into five blocks and a medical camp has one male doctor and two midwives.
Bin Qasim DDO revenue Aslam Khoso, who is in charge of the camp, said that the authorities are trying to provide them all possible help. “We have to fight against this mindset that has been exposed during the floods,” Siddiqui added.
Around 1,442 pregnant women have been registered at 22 camps set up by the CDGK. Fifty-two women have delivered under the supervision of midwives while 143 have been referred to hospitals due to complications, according to the data compiled by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2010.