The Sunday News
Lackson Munkombwe Sunday News Reporter—
A BINGA woman had to undergo an operation to remove her entire womb after her uterus had started rotting from a suspected infection she suffered when she was raped more than two years ago while fetching water at a borehole. The woman who cannot be named to protect her identity, but is from Siansundu Village said doctors claimed
that she suffered from Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), an infection of the womb which was not treated in time after the rape, causing the bacteria to grow and damage the womb.
“I went to Binga Hospital after falling sick from a swollen stomach and was discharging very dark urine,” said the woman. “I was admitted and samples of urine were taken for examination. Later, I was told that something was rotting in my womb and so I went for X-ray where I was told my womb was not in good condition.”
She said she was transferred to St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane where she was operated on and spent two weeks at the sickbay before being discharged. Although officials at St Luke’s could not comment, medical sources at the hospital confirmed the operation which they said was a success.
Narrating her ordeal to Sunday News, the woman said she has not recovered from the ordeal she went through when she was raped. She said after the rape she started experiencing stomach pains but could not seek medical help since she had no money.
She said she was raped in 2014 while she was at a bush boarding school, (Tinde High) at the age of 17, doing Form Three.
“I was raped when I was doing Form Three at Tinde High. I went to fetch water at a local borehole a few kilometres from the school. When I was going there, a man from the same area escorted me and proposed love to me and I turned him down,” said the woman.
“However, when we arrived at the borehole, there was no one and the man started touching and fondling my breasts. I tried to get him off me but he insisted and then pulled my dress up before forcibly dragging me to the ground and raped me once. He threatened to kill me if I disclosed the matter.”
She said she went back to school where she reported the matter to the headmaster who then reported the case to the police, leading to the man’s arrest.
She said the rapist appeared before a Hwange magistrate where he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She said she never imagined that anything worse like losing her womb would happen to her after the incident.
“I am now feeling better after the operation although I cannot embrace the fact that I will never be a mother in my entire life.”
In medical terms, removal of the womb is called Hysterectomy. However, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, according to medical experts is an infection of the reproductive organs in women. The pelvis is in the lower abdomen and includes the fallopian tubes, the ovaries, the cervix, and the uterus.
Several different types of bacteria can cause PID, including the same bacteria that causes the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) gonorrhea and chlamydia. What commonly occurs is that bacteria first enters the vagina and causes an infection. As time passes, the infection can move into the pelvic organ. PID can become extremely dangerous, even life-threatening, if the infection spreads to the blood.
