SCI-ART LAB

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Q: How can age old cultural,  traditional and religious practices be harmful? They are based on experience and the resultant knowledge!

Krishna: Is that so?! 

A few real stories have been told by people who were harmed by their cultural practices! Let me share them with you.

1. A pregnant woman  was not allowed to go to the hospital because of an eclipse based practice resulting in a complicated delivery and still birth.

2. A nurse told this story : 

My example was disturbing with the potential to be a serious emergency. I was completing a routine exam of a home birth baby girl 3 days post delivery. As I was removing her nappy I caught a strong smell that I was unable to place as well as the familiar smell of infection. Part of the routine check is to establish if the umbilical cord has dropped off. What I found was a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger surrounding a very wet and sticky cord stump and the first signs of infection.

Unhygienic cord care practices are prevalent in home births in Bangladesh, Nepal,  Pakistan and India including the application of tumeric, mustard oil, ash, coconut oil and chewed rice. Infections in newborns from exposure of the umbilical cord stump to invasive pathogens may lead to serious illnesses, including tetanus, omphalitis and acute sepsis.

New immigrants are often influenced by their families (especially mothers-in-law) to continue their traditional practices.

3. Throwing of coins into plane engines for good luck and safe journey resulting in quite the opposite effect endangering the lives of the air travellers!

4. FGM: Female Genital Mutilation was the worst. This is practiced in a number of  nations and involves cutting off the clitoris and sewing the vagina closed so that only a tiny hole remains. Genitals of girls get infected..ending with child probably not being able to conceive when she grows up.

5.  Jehovah’s Witnesses, prohibit blood transfusions, even during emergency situations . 

6. Making a woman a baby producing machine because your religion and culture doesn't allow birth-control measures. And finally 'killing her' after 20 births with your stupidity.

7.  Another story from a nurse: I walked into my patient's room. I had been caring for the family for just about 14 hours- I was working a double. We were waiting on baby to have his first stool. I walked into the room and all of the women- there were 3 plus my patient- has smeared the stool all over their faces. Like a facial mask. They put poop on their faces. I generally like to expand my knowledge base and learn about cultures and practices I am unfamiliar with. I scoured the internet… found nothing. They put poop on their faces. I just never understood. Imagine getting infected with this cultural practice!

8. A doctor told this story: When I was working in stroke rehab, we had a female patient from Afghanistan. Her husband insisted that she only have female doctors, female nurses, female porters and female aides, which posed a significant staffing problem in itself. We did our best to accommodate them which was a PITA. No male was to look at her. One weekend, she took a turn for the worse, and we had to get the doctor on call to come see her, and it was a male. The husband had a fit and told us it’s better that she should die, than be examined by a male doctor! 

I can go on like this. Now tell me how can some strange things that arose from primitive (mis)understanding of things around be good? How can they be not harmful?

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