IHLAS AL HAMRUNI

Tunisia- Fatima Al-Talili lives alone in a modest house after losing her husband years ago in a traffic accident. Her daughter Zeina died while giving birth to her fourth child.

“Zeina was my only child. She wanted to have many children because she grew up alone, without having a sibling. She had a daughter and twin sons. She wanted to have a big family and got pregnant again. She was going to have another daughter,” Fatima al-Talili said in tears.

“She gave birth to her three children at the Hospital Regional of Metlaoui. When her labor began, we took her to the same hospital. However, there was no doctors at the hospital. My daughter waited there for hours until it was impossible to save her life. Health workers could only save her daughter.”

The story of Zeina is only one of the stories of the pregnant women in the city. Pregnant women face difficulties in accessing health services in the city due to shortage of doctors, especially gynecologists, in public hospitals.

‘Pregnant women are sent to nearby regional hospitals,

Fatima Al-Talili told NuJINHA that pregnant women are sent to nearby regional hospitals due to shortage of gynecologists. “The shortage of gynecologists doubles the suffering of women, especially those who live in rural areas. They have to travel long distances to the Hospital Regional of Metlaoui but they are transferred to other hospitals.”

‘My neighbor died due to negligence’

Khadija Abbasi’s neighbor died while giving birth at the Hospital Regional of Metlaoui. “Due to the shortage of doctors and gynecologists, the maternal mortality rate increases in the city. She had three children. My neighbor died due to negligence and shortage of doctors at the hospital. There are no doctors at the hospital, especially during holidays.”

‘I gave birth inside ambulance’

Narges bin Muhammad told us her story of giving birth to her daughter. The gynecologist, who monitored her pregnancy, told her that she would have a normal delivery because she had previously given birth to her son. “When my labor pain started, we went to the hospital; however, the gynecologist, who monitored my pregnancy, was working in another department. A doctor at the hospital decided to perform a cesarean section. I was transferred to another hospital in Kebili Governorate when I refused the c-section. We went to the hospital by renting a private ambulance,” she said.

The distance from Kebili and Metlaoui is more than 120 km. “I was in pain the whole way. I gave birth to my daughter inside the ambulance at the entrance of the hospital in Kebili. The hospital that I was transferred to is a hospital with a high maternal mortality rate.”