Life as a Woman of Nepal

Every patient has some sort of amazing story. Just when I think I have heard it all, I will hear another story of women’s plight and pain from a country I love so much.

One young patient (and we have had a lot of very young patients this year) told us she was 30 years old. She had 2 children, and a significant uterine prolapse. She was crying during her assessment and quite distressed. When we asked why she told us that her husband had “put her outside” when she developed the prolapse and he would not come with her for her surgery.

Her mother was with her who also looked very poor and did not have any shoes. When we talked to the patient further we worked out that she was probably only about 23. So we did a hysterectomy on a 23 year old girl whose life had been shattered by having babies at a very young age, 2 babies close together and having the babies at home without a skilled birth attendant.

She had little access to health care, and if she could access it, probably could not afford it. She is a classic example of why this condition is so bad in Nepal and her story just broke my heart. I was doing the assessment with Dr Giri Prabhala and I caught her wiping tears from her eyes as well. Even after all these years of coming to this country I find it hard to imagine what some of these women go through in their lives.