BOTSWANA: Hospital won't help after botch

The Voice (Botswana)
April 12, 2013

Circumcision Horror - Who Cares?

BOY (11) SUFFERS AFTER PROCEDURE GOES WRONG BUT AUTHORITIES FAIL TO HELP CLAIMS MUM

Like many mothers Lungisani Thini decided to have her 11-year-old son circumcised because she wanted him to have a healthier future.

Now she fears he may not have much of a future at all.

The distraught mum, 47, described how the boy’s penis was sliced open during the procedure that went terribly wrong at Tutume Primary hospital. She has now threatened to sue the government P5 million for negligence.

The botched procedure occurred in December last year, but Lungisani claims the hospital neither gave her an apology nor reacted urgently to repair the damage.

“I know mistakes do occur, but the way the hospital is handling my son’s case makes me feel they don’t care.

All I need now is compensation so that I can find medication and doctors to correct the blunder before it’s too late,” she said.

The mother of six revealed that the problem became evident shortly after the procedure when the boy experienced pain and difficulty when trying to urinate.

Although he was then referred to Nyangabgwe hospital, it soon became apparent that measures taken to repair the damage had been unsuccessful.

“When after a week they removed the pipe they had inserted in his penis they assured us that all would be well.

But before long the boy started complaining again.”

Lungisani went on to say that after returning to Nyangabgwe doctors said there was nothing they could do as her son urgently needed to see a specialist.

She told how he was then transferred to Maun, but claims all they are doing there is draining the urine twice every month from the pipe in his penis.

“As I speak, the boy’s education is being seriously affected because of the repeated journeys to hospital,” she added.

What upsets her most is the fact that apart from providing transport to Maun, the hospital does not assist the family financially for the numerous trips.

She also complained that the hospital has never counselled either her or her son.

“As a single mum it is very difficult for me to cope and since the people who are responsible don’t seem to care, I have decided to take legal action. Although I am poor, I will fight until I get justice,” Lungisani promised.

Taking up the case area councillor Moseki Mathodi said that he tried to follow up the matter, but was told it was none of his business.

“I went to the clinic where the operation was carried out, but the nurse in charge refused to talk to me regarding the case claiming confidentiality.

They even failed to liaise with the school regarding the boy’s problem until I personally went to alert the headmaster,” he said.

Tutume District Health Management Team (DHMT) Coordinator Dr Ntumba Kamayi, although acknowledging there was a problem, dismissed allegations that the hospital was not treating the matter with urgency.

“What happened is very sad, but mistakes do happen,” he said. [Medical mistakes are not supposed to happen; accidents should be dealt with.]

Kamayi went on to assure the public that such cases were rare, saying that at least 40 people a day were being circumcised at the Thini clinic. [Yes, and how many are botched?]

“Why the boy’s case went wrong is still a shock to me,” the doctor said.

SWAZILAND: Pastor condemns circumcision - sort of

the Times (Swaziland)
July 16, 2012

Preacher attacks circumcision programme

By
LUDZELUDZE – Preachers had to be called to order at the vigil of Dr Zonke Amos Khumalo after one of them used the platform to attack the circumcision programme called Soka Uncobe. ["Circumcise and conquer"]
 
A preacher identified as Majahonke Tshabalala said the campaign to encourage men to circumcise was misleading people as they now thought that when one was circumcised he had conquered death.

He said this was misleading as there was nowhere in the Bible where it states that one can conquer death through circumcision.

The man of the cloth told mourners that for a person to conquer death they must accept Jesus Christ as their saviour and forget about circumcision.

He also came hard on people being instructed to go public after they were circumcised. Tshabalala shocked mourners when he claimed that Jesus Christ yelled once ...

BERLIN: Doctors - "Stop cutting!"; Rabbis - "Keep cutting!"

Huffington Post
July 12, 2012

Rabbis Urge German Jews To Continue Circumcisions

By David Rising
BERLIN — A German court's decision that ritual circumcision amounts to criminal bodily harm threatens religious freedom in Europe, a group of European Orthodox rabbis said Thursday.

The ruling, handed down last month by a Cologne court, has prompted widespread criticism from Jewish and Muslim groups alike, despite German government attempts to allay fears that it could lead to a national ban on circumcisions.

Despite the government's assurances, the president of the German Medical Association this week recommended that doctors cease performing circumcisions for religious reasons until the law can be clarified.

Following an emergency meeting in the German capital of some 40 rabbis from across Europe to discuss the issue, the head of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, called circumcision "the foundation" of the Jewish faith.
[If that were true there would be something seriously wrong with the Jewish faith. Therefore that cannot be true....]

Goldschmidt, the chief rabbi of Moscow, said that while the rabbis recognized the ruling does not set a nationwide precedent, it has raised fears among the Jewish community that members could be prosecuted if they circumcise their sons.

Goldschmidt cited France's ban on face-covering Muslim veils and Switzerland's ban on the construction of new minarets for mosques in saying the Cologne decision was part of a wider trend aimed at limiting religious traditions in largely secular Europe.
[No, one was about women's rights, the other abour town planning.]

"I don't think that today there is a quasi-ban of circumcision in Germany, but it is an attack on circumcision – a big attack on circumcision – and I am here because I think that this is not only a problem for Germany but a problem for Europe," Goldschmidt said.
[No, only a problem for those who are determined to cut non-consenting people's genitals.]

...

In a joint statement from Brussels earlier this week, a group of rabbis, imams and others said that they consider the ruling against circumcision "an affront on our basic religious and human rights."
[There is a human right to cut genitals?]

In its decision, the court said that circumcising young boys on religious grounds amounts to bodily harm even if parents consent to the procedure.

The ruling came in the case of the circumcision of a 4-year-old Muslim boy that led to medical complications, and both German Jewish and Muslim groups have spoken out against it.

...

"Circumcision is for us a duty, and the basis for a Jewish child to be a part of the Jewish people," he said. [Women and girls are invisible again....] "Religious freedom is being curtailed, and that is something we cannot accept here in Germany."

...

"For us the deadline is not tomorrow, but yesterday," Goldschmidt said of possible changes to the law. In the meantime, however, "we say to the Jewish community ... keep performing the brit milah, and have no fear."
[And what became of "Dina de-malkhuta dina" - The law of the land is the law?]

...

Earlier story