SOUTH AFRICA: Still in pain 4 years after botched circumcision

The New Age (South Africa)
May 17, 2012

'My boy is in pain'

By Masoka Dube
Mpumalanga - The national and Mpumalanga health departments face a combined R10m [$US 1.2 million] lawsuit after an eight-year-old boy lost the tip of his penis in a botched circumcision.

The boy, who cannot be named because he is a minor, was mutilated at Barberton Hospital in Mpumalanga four years ago.

"We are currently waiting for the department to respond to the summons. They asked me to send them a doctor's medical report detailing the boy's injuries," said lawyer Milile Labe, who is representing the boy's family.

The boy's mother, who also cannot be named in order to protect his identity, said that a medical intern had performed the procedure on her son, who is now in Grade 2 at a primary school in Barberton.

"The intern attached the glans back on the penis, but after five days it fell off. I took the piece back to the hospital, where they put it into a container.

They then sent my son and the piece to Pretoria to get it re-attached, but that procedure failed as well. "To this day my boy still feels pain in his groin, especially when he tries to urinate," she said.

She said the doctor told her that the boy needed to undergo further medical treatment in order to be able to have sex in the future. "I made this shocking discovery after my lawyer took the boy to the doctor," said the mother.

A report from urologist Prof Mohamed Haffejee confirmed that the boy will experience problems later in life.
"In future he may have some sexual dysfunction related to decreased sensation and inability to reach orgasm due to the amputation of the glans. [And the foreskin. He could perhaps manage without a glans if he still had his foreskin.]

There may also be resulting psycho social problems as a consequence of the amputation related to low self-esteem," reads Mohamed's report, which is attached to the summons.

...