An exchange meeting with journalists was held on Thursday with the aim of identifying Obstetric Fistula patients and creating awareness. Dr. ATM Nuruzzaman Acumin, Superintendent of  Muhammad Ali Hospital, was preset as the chief guest at the meeting organized by the Lamb Hospital of Parvatipur of Dinajpur and in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund.

The meeting was presided over by general secretary of Bogura Press Club Amzad Hossain Mintu. UNFPA fistula technical officer. Animesh Biswas, Dr. Sadia Sultana, Assistant Registrar, Mohammad Ali Hospital, Mahatab Liton, Project Manager, Rajshahi and Rangpur Divisions, Lamb Hospital Fistula Nirmul Project, Dr. Tahmina Khatun Sonia, Deputy Project Manager, District SRHR Officer Dr. Ishrat Ara and District Coordinator, Lamb Hospital Fistula Nirmul Project. (BogUra and Sirajganj) Shariful Islam Sharif.  News editor of Daily Karatoa Bhattacharya Shankar and  senior reporter Nasima Sultana Chutu also participated in the discussion.
Doctors said about fistula in the meeting, puerperal fistula is a chronic disease for women.

Most obstetric fistulas are caused by delayed and obstructed labor. During delayed labor, if the baby’s head remains in the vagina for more than 3 to 12 hours, the muscles around the back and front bones, such as the bladder and sometimes the anus, are cut off.

As a result, all these muscles rot and after the baby is born, there is a hole and a fistula is formed. As a result of which Manik started urinating continuously through the toilet. They also said that the easiest way to recognize a fistula patient is that the patient will urinate or defecate all the time or both, in that case the patient will not feel any urge to urinate and his clothes will be wet all the time. This disease can also occur after child delivery or any operation in the lower abdomen or uterus.

Dr. UNFPA fistula technical officer. Animesh Biswas said, fistula patients are socially and family neglected and they lose their mental balance to keep themselves locked up. Fistula patients are cured by operation in government hospitals. Besides, the Lamb Hospital in Parvatipur is treating and rehabilitating the poor patients completely free of cost. Therefore, if any fistula patient is identified, the speakers requested to inform the nearest health complex or hospital.

Mahatab Liton, project manager of Rajshahi and Rangpur division of Fistula Nirmul Project of Lamb Hospital, said that 24 obstetric fistula patients were found in Bogura in the last two years. Among them, 14 people were cured at Lamb Hospital and 4 at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, Bogura. Besides, the remaining 6 patients are still undergoing treatment.

He expressed hope that the journalists of Bogura will play an active role in creating awareness among the people about identification, treatment and rehabilitation of fistula patients in Bogura.

Before this, a discussion meeting was held on Fistula in the auditorium of Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College (SHJMEC) with about hundred students of that college and doctors of various departments including gynecologists. Dr. Animesh Bisas, Technical Officer of Fistula of UNFPA, presented the main report in the meeting under the chairmanship of Rezaul Alam Jewell, Principal of Shajimek. Dr. Abdul Wadud, Deputy Director of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hospital, Dr. Sushant Kumar Sarkar, Vice Principal of SZMC, Prof. Dr. Nitai Chandra Sarkar spoke as guests.

Assistant Director Dr. Arafat, Dr. Rezaul Karim of Urology Department, Lokman Hossain of Surgery Department, Dr. Runa Khan, Mahatab Liton, Project Director of Rajshahi and Rangpur Department of Lamb Hospital and Shariful Islam, Coordinator of Bogra and Sirajganj District, doctors of various departments of the college and more than one and a half hundred students. The program was moderated by UNFPA District SR HR Dr. Ishrat Ara.

Dr. Animesh’s report at the meeting revealed that 10 to 20 million women are living with fistula disease in the current 20 years. Obstetric fistula cases have been increasing in Bangladesh for several decades, which is known to be a concern for women’s health in the country. The United Nations has called for an end to obstetric fistula within a generation and Bangladesh is working towards eliminating the disease from the country by 2030 or earlier.