KABUL (Pajhwok): A number of women suffering from infertility complain of a violent family behaviour, an action slammed by religious scholars.
Doctors argue infertility is not a problem confined to women, who alone should neither be blamed nor subjected to violence for it.
They say the exact number of infertile couples in Afghanistan is not known. But given the number of those visiting doctors for reasons of infertility, the figure may be pretty high.
Pajhwok Afghan News interviewed a several women suffering from infertility. They complained about violent treatment by their families.
We are not guilty: Infertile women
A woman, who married 10 years ago but has no children so far, said: “I don’t know who has the problem: I or my husband? I have visited many doctors. But my husband, who never agrees to visit a doctor or undergo a test, always blames me.”
Requesting not to be named, she recalled: “I loved my husband and that’s why we tied the knot. But several years after our marriage, my husband is disappointed with me. He has beaten me several times and even kicked me out of home.”
She broke into tears while narrating her bitter memories. “I sold all my jewelry and went to Pakistan for treatment. My spouse, however, is not ready to visit a doctor.”
Currently, she is living in her mother’s house and her husband has married another woman.
Several other infertile women, holding similar views, also grumbled about being subjected to taunts and violence by their husbands and families.
They pleaded: “We are not guilty. Please treat us well and do not insult us.”
Tuba Mohammadi, a resident of Kabul, said: “I’m 30-year-old. I married nine years ago but have no kids. Suffering from infertility, I received medical treatment that yielded no result.”
Tuba complained their financial position was fragile and that she faced violence from her husband. She has no objection to her husband marrying another woman to have children.
She reasoned being sterile was beyond her control. Tuba said she was insulted wherever she went by people who asked her why she could not bear children.
Don’t blame women alone
Dr. Najm-ul-Sama Shafajo, an obstetrician, called infertility a condition in which a couple did not have children without any delay in pregnancy or interruption.
“As the problem can be detected both in a wife and a husband…. they must undergo some tests and refer to a doctor,” she suggested, explaining no exact figure was available for infertility in Afghanistan.
“We do not have a specific figure for infertility in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Public Health may have this number. The figure cannot be followed both in public and private hospital.”
She said infertility had different reasons in women and men. Blaming only a woman for it was not a good thing, she remarked.
Gynecologist Zarghona Obaidi wrote on her Facebook page that research had been done that showed both women and men could be infertile.
Based on statistics from the World Health Organisation in 1998, 30 percent of infertility cases are related to women’s health and 25 percent to men’s health.
In 40 percent of such cases, she said, the cause of infertility should be sought from both spouses. Causes in five percent of cases are yet to be known.
Religious scholars
Mufti Shams-ul-Rahman Frotan, one of religious scholars, told Pajhwok that violence against women was forbidden in Islam.
Referring to violence against sterile women, he said: “Allah says in the Holy Quran that He gives some people sons and daughters, some are blessed with daughters and others with girls and boys while some are made infertile.
“Infertility is the work of Allah. It is not in the hand of women. Those who commit violence against infertile women are in fact fighting against Allah. No woman wants to be infertile. It is from Allah.”
The scholar added there were some husbands who blamed their problems on their wives. “Nowadays there are simple and easy ways as medical science can determine which side has the problem.”
sa/mud
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