Unwanted pregnancy has led many women to opt for unsafe abortion, which is a major cause for 10 to 12 per cent of maternal deaths in Karachi as medical professionals discussed and debated the procedure of abortion, the importance of using contraceptives, and a midwife’s role in the process, to a wide audience comprising of nurses and midwives, in a lecture hosted by Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Tuesday.

“The role of a midwife and nurse is vital, as they play a preventive role for their patients. A doctor’s team is not complete without a trained nurse who knows the basics, for instance, sterilising the instruments that have been used etc,” said Dr Kaneez Fatima, a gynecologist. In her lecture she pointed out that annually 890,000 abortion take place in Pakistan as a result of unwanted pregnancy.

“In Karachi there is a dearth of doctors who could perform abortion, as a result, majority of women go for an inexpensive abortion which is unsafe and causes infection in the uterus,”, she added.

One out of six pregnancies is terminated by induced abortion which is mostly conducted by an unskilled person, Dr Kaneez said. “The law states that if a woman is not feeling well, physically and mentally, after 120 days of pregnancy, she can opt for an abortion. The problem is that not many women know such a law exists and if they do their families do not allow them to go for an abortion,” continued Dr Fatima.

Telling a patient to go somewhere else for an abortion and getting preachy is not a doctors’ or a midwife’s job as there job is to fulfill there preventive role that is to inform them about the use of contraception and how it will protect them from having unwanted pregnancies, says Dr Nighat Shah, another gynecologist.

“If your partner is not using condoms, the problem lies with you too as most of the woman do not discuss such issues with their partners or husbands, as a result of which they feel free to do as they please.”

Dr Shah said that the first question she often asks her patients is on how much family planning they do before or after getting married. “It is related to a woman’s health and she has every right to decide what she wants to do with her body.”

Dr Shah added that many times husbands or father in-laws sign the consent paper on behalf of a woman, that whether she wants to have babies or not.

In this case the consent of a patient is very important as “you are a nurse or a midwife, you need to ask the patient first regardless of what their in-laws or families demand,” she said.

In her presentation, Dr Shah informed that only 30 per cent of population in Pakistan use contraceptives or pills. “The remaining 70 per cent either does not want to go for contraception, or are afraid to use it, as they fear it will cause an infection.”

The nurses also enacted a small skit in which the basic issues faced by the nurses while dealing with patients and their families were pointed out, which was appreciated by the audience a lot.

Dr Shah said that informative advertisements on TV channels and programmes on radio can help a lot in understanding the issues related to unwanted pregnancy and family planning.

The nurses have to start from scratch while speaking about such issues, which can easily be aired on TV and Radio, provided they are given ample time.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=221006