Overcoming the stitches of the obstetric fistula

We can't always overcome all the obstacles we face in life. Sometimes, we get exhausted and simply give up – more often, we lose the courage to move forward. But that was not the case of Hamida, a fistula fighter from Chakaria Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in Bangladesh who conquered the battle at last. Now she smiles every day, serving the similar humanity of her kind.

Hamida Begum had a history of prolonged labour of seven days when delivering her first baby – it injured her birth canal massively. A typical obstetric fistula case left her suffering for more than 25 years. Her husband and society abandoned her leaving her in grave miseries. She suffered a lot from the fistula and underwent several surgeries in different hospitals, which did not give her a complete cure for the condition.

In the meantime, she experienced a few pregnancies and finally gave birth to her daughter Sadia Jannat in 2001.

Hope Hospital found her in 2015 through an outreach activity and treated her obstetric fistula. Dr Nrinomy Biswas, a FIGO Fellow, operated on her and repaired her fistula. Now Hamida is back to her normal life at the cost of her long travails and losing her family.

Later, Hamida got training on fistula and joined Hope Hospital in 2016 as a field worker. Now she helps other women who are similarly suffering from fistula and other obstetric and gynaecological problems. She said, "I got my life back. I have lost so many things on the journey, but now I am living a life with full dignity."

In 2021, Hamida's daughter Sadia enrolled in the midwifery course offered by Hope Foundation free of cost. She (the daughter) dreams of helping women like her mother, and now her motto is no woman suffers from the unnecessary burden of obstetric fistula.

Hope Foundation, a philanthropic organisation runs the Hope Hospital at Ramu in Cox's Bazar.K M Zahiduzzaman, Country Director, Hope Foundation, informed that they run Hope Field Hospital for Women in Cox's Bazar and remote Maheshkhali, Hope Midwifery Institute, Hope Birth Centers, Rural Mobile Medical Camps, Burn and cleft palate surgery, and Mental Health Programme.

Dr Iftikher Mahmood, Professor at the Department of Health Services Research and Administration at the College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), USA, is Hope Foundation's founder. He informed that the obstetric fistula project is one of their flagship projects that finds distressed women from the surrounding communities through outreach events and treats them through several operations.

Hope Foundation also runs humanitarian operations in the Rohingya refugee camps. They were first responders when a sudden influx of refugees came to Bangladesh from Myanmar, and they immediately responded and provided emergency medical care to the displaced humanity.

The Hope Hospital in Ramu is like the last resort for many women in remote areas who otherwise would not get real hope in their lives, and it is saving their souls and humanity.

E-mail: tareq.salahuddin@thedailystar.net