The women in South Africa are going through a hard time indeed. The public hospitals in the country have clearly forgotten their purpose as ‘lifesavers’.
Doctors and nurses are clouded with evilness and wrong social beliefs that control their ways of operation. They have turned hospitals to slaughterhouses as many women are undergoing forced sterilization.
The Cruelty In South Africa’s Hospitals
The situation has been at hand since the 2000s but the cases came to life after the women’s rights activist group strongly advocated against the evil acts in public hospitals.
The commission of gender equality decided to look into the matter to take corrective measures. Since the mission began it has not been easy at all especially from the investigators’ side.
The hospital attendants are extremely harsh and hostile on them since none of them wants to be interrogated. South Africa’s health department, however, has not deeply looked into the matter despite having 48 women who have gone through this depressing moment.
The victims wish and hope that the matter will be handled professionally and that justice will be upheld. The doctors are taking matters into their hands since they are using the vulnerability of women to their greatest advantage.
They drive women into signing ‘legal’ forms to approve of the sterilization but they are doing so not out of their consent which is so unethical. These ‘doctors’ lie to young women to choose sterilization because if they don’t do it, they will die during delivery especially victims with HIV/AIDS.
The greatest challenge that the Commission of gender equality is facing is that they actually cannot find or trace any records of the patients that link them to the forced sterilization.
This cruel and heartless action has affected the women in many ways including depression and others have broken marriages because they cannot conceive anymore. Either their wombs are removed (hysterectomy) or due to blockage or sealing of their fallopian tubes (tubal ligation).
South African Law On Sterilization
The adults in South Africa are entitled to sterilization through safer and accepted methods. The procedure undertaken to perform this process should be expressed clearly with all risks and consequences mentioned.
The consent can be pulled out at any time whereas the forms must give the okay. Hence, it should be well understood and signed. Separate rules must also be followed for those who are not in the position of consenting.
The Story Of Bongekile Msibi
Msibi is one of the 48 women who have suffered the act of forced sterilization in South Africa. She says that when she went to conceive, she found a large bandage around her stomach when she woke up and wondered why it was placed there. Msibi gave birth through a C-section, she never knew that was the last time she will ever give birth again.
After 11 years or so she decided to have another baby but could not. MS Msibi assumed that her periods were not there due to her previous intake of contraceptives. However, one day she decided to go to the doctor where she was examined and told her uterus was absent.
The shock of the news left her devastated and broken since her relationship was challenged and the only thing, she could do was to let go. She wants a second child but this is impossible for her at the moment. Her grief indeed continues because the actions done might not be undone soon.
