Mehrkhaneh.com, a state-run website in Iran, has published a report on the dire conditions of women in Iran and their deprivation of the most basic hygiene and medical care.
“A pregnant woman dies in Ahvaz hospital due to absence of medical specialist”, “A pregnant woman dies in Lodab due to absence of a physician”, “Three young mothers die in Gonabad in span of six months” are the titles of news reports on women in Iran who are losing their lives because they are living in regions deprived of medical supplies and specialists.
The fact that women medical specialists are not equally distributed across the country is nothing new. It has been years that women in deprived areas are suffering numerous problems due to lack of 24-hour medical treatment centers, lack of adequate supplies and equipment in medical centers, absence of female specialists, obstetricians and other hygiene and medical services. Currently many towns don’t even have one female specialist. For example, in the provinces of Kerman, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Southern Khorasan and even Khorasan Razavi, physicians are not distributed.
Maryam is a woman living in Bandar Langeh in Hormozgan Province (southern Iran). She is pregnant and due to illnesses such as appendix pains, problems after giving birth and infection she has been forced to go to the city of Bandar Abbas.
“In Bandar Langeh we only have one medical center and there is only one obstetrician. There is a Shohada Hospital without any medical specialist and people are forced to go to Bandar Abbas or the city of Yazd. There are a lot of medical restrictions imposed on us,” she said.
Sahar is another young woman living in the city of Sabzevar, northeastern Iran. She talks about women who need caesarean surgery when they cannot undergo natural childbirths. However, due to the lack of medical specialists, their surgery is carried out in a way that they suffer serious infections afterwards.
What has been mentioned is just a tip of the iceberg for women in deprived areas. Such difficulties end in people losing their lives. (State-run Mehrkhaneh website – August 23, 2015)
