Sunday, September 1, 2002		Feedback

Tales that "missing women" tell

ALTHOUGH the health of Indians is among the worst in the world, the health of its women, especially in the rural areas, is even worse as highlighted by Raman Mohan through his write-up, "Tales that missing women" tell (Her World, August 4). It is only recently, that we have got an inkling of how great the problem is. Surveys have shown a frightening aspect of women’s health which our society has so far not recognised.

Unfortunately, the health infrastructure in the country is not geared for women’s health needs. In fact, it is downright unfriendly towards women. The very manner in which the primary health centres are built and function discourage women from seeking help. A woman who is to confide about her problems needs some privacy where she can meet the doctor (usually a male) in the presence of a female relative or a friend. But most health centres function from a single room which is shared by the doctor and the patients who wait for their turn. So, often, when a women may have a serious complication, she is not attended to properly because the doctor is not always sensitive enough or does not have the time to draw out the woman into explanating her problem in detail.

Most often women, because of their cultural conditioning, do not even seek medical aid until it is too late. Many go through life with debilitating condition, bearing their pain without complaining, having been conditioned to believe that such pain s part of being a woman. So whether it is a question of painful menses or even the dreaded vagino vascular fistale (VVF), help is seldom sought.

How many young girls suffer from painful menstruation that debilitates them and keeps them grounded for three or four days a month? It is a situation that warrants medical attention but is shrugged off as a woman’s lot.

Women’s health needs are different. So far these have been ignored by our policy-makers and the medical system. It is time to do something about them.

K.M. VASHISHT
Mansa

To curtail female foeticide and female infanticide, we’ll have to get to the root cause, which is the dowry system, followed by others.

Poor parents, who barely make both ends meet, are coerced to pay a huge amount to marry off their daughters. The times are changing, but this change is confined only to the urban areas. In the rural areas, the fate of a girl child is still bleak.

Unless and until we don’t direct our efforts towards educating people, especially in the remote areas, we can’t impact a change in the status of women.

SHIPRA SHARMA
Parwanoo