Sumita Chakraborty highlights the many health problems Kashmiri women are facing in refugee camps in Jammu.
History tells us that Kashmiri women were once hailed for their legendary beauty. In fact, even today, when one thinks of Kashmiri women, one automatically envisages apple-cheeked, fair, buxom damsels dazzling one and all, with their natural beauty. The invigorating air of the verdant meadows of Kashmir was responsible for the ever-youthful look of these women.
However, post 1990, dogged by terrorism and brutal killings, scenic Kashmir was transformed into a battlefield. The Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out from their homeland by terrorists and were shunted into makeshift refugee camps. And the worst hit were the women. A survey conducted by the Health Department of India in 2003 claimed that ‘one out of every three Kashmiri women in the refugee camps have multiple signs of deteriorating health, including premature aging, unnatural death, higher incidence of serious and potentially fatal diseases and affliction, with multiple disease syndromes’.
Concurs Dr K L Choudhary, the official doctor of the refugee camps in Jammu and the president of the Federation of Displaced Doctors, “The entire population in refugee camps has aged prematurely by 10 to15 years — not just in physical appearance, but also in the functional deficit of various organ systems.”
According to him, stress-related and gender-specific problems are rampant especially in the female populace of these camps. “Problems ranging from menstrual disturbances which veer from missed periods to excessive blood flow, to painful menses, to loss of sexuality are increasing. There is also a higher incidence of delayed onset of periods and premature menopause. This has given rise to a reduced fertility span resulting, obviously, in reduced birth rates.”
According to statistics released by the Health Department of India, among 580 women in the refugee camps who attained menopause, 35 per cent were less than 37 years and another 30 per cent were between 37 to 40 years.
One possible explanation of premature menopause, according to Dr Choudhury, is that the impact of severe emotional stress on the brain leads to the disruption of the hormonal chain responsible for the ovarian function.
“Psychological and stress disorders are the cause of premature menopause,” insists Dr J R Thapa, consultant neuropsychiatrist, Psychiatric Diseases Hospital, Jammu. He concludes that these women are suffering from the trauma of a forced exodus and the exposure to an alien and hostile environment. Further compounded by problems of acclimatisation, lack of basic amenities like drinking water, drainage and sewerage, absence of proper lavatory facilities, poor housing, over-crowding, extremes of climate, lack of healthcare, idleness, depression, disease and death. All these problems, he explains, were common before too. But they have piled on during the years and have magnified to unbearable levels, more so these past few years.
Adds Dr Thapa, “The women in these camps suffer from reactive depression which causes early menopause. Some women I have examined have shown a marked disinterest in sex because of these problems. In extreme cases, some women have also suffered from nervous breakdowns."
Filmmaker and spokesperson for Panun Kashmir West Zone, Mumbai, Ashok Pandit has spent extensive time in these refugee camps in Jammu. Explains he, “Women have to organise everything in the tents which are tiny and have minimum 8 to 10 people living in them. They also manage the food and basic requirements, all within the small amount of money the government gives them. With jobs in short supply, men take to drinking and idling their time. So for the women, with no privacy and entertainment, frustration levels are at their peak. In fact, living in these sub human conditions, many women suffer from major gynaecological problems while in men, the impotency level has increased to a great extent.”
Dr P K Hak, a professor at the Srinagar Medical College, says that “while the incidence of the ailments the inhabitants of these camps have suffered traditionally has increased, a host of new diseases and syndromes, previously unknown or rare, are also afflicting them.”
According to him, “Hypertension has become very common among these women. Stress diabetes is also a new syndrome. In fact, in my experience, a large number of Kashmiri refugee women suffering from diabetes find that there is no other visible cause for it except stress.”
Another grave problem faced by the Kashmiri women, according to Dr Choudhury, is lack of sexual interest. Says he, “The plausible explanation for this could be constraints on sexually active couples, arising out of a lack of privacy, as they have to share space with the rest of the family. Many-a-times, this has even led to divorce. So these women lead a life of forced celibacy, which in turn takes a toll on the body’s biological need for sex. So obviously, the entire issue of having children to propagate the tribe does not arise.”
In a recent survey done by doctors, of 854 women who have married and produced children in these refugee camps, the average age of marriage for women is 30 years. This is thanks to the recent trend of men marrying out of caste, causing a scarcity of good “marriageable” men. Of the couples married for more than three years, 26 per cent had no issue mostly by choice, 54 per cent had only one issue, while only 19 per cent have had two issues. Only 5 per cent of the women were planning more babies.
Zamrooda Khanday, a Kashmiri researcher, has also come out with another shocking insight. In 2003, at the second Asia Pacific conference held in Bangkok in Thailand, Zamrooda concluded that, “Health needs have to be emphasised among Kashmiri women.” According to her field study, “Every 10 Kashmiri refugee women above the age of 25 are either suffering from an uterus infection or have had an abortion the illegal way. This is because the militants have banned the use of contraceptives, so illegal abortions are very common.”
Zamrooda concludes, “The whole concept of health is not very clear to the women. It would make a lot of difference if people knew what it meant to be healthy. And then, they would take health precautions and be more aware of what they need.”
Any solutions? “Give these people their basic rights. Give them better living conditions to live in and all problems will be conquered. The health infrastructure in these refugee camps has collapsed completely. How much can you help these poor women especially as their basic living structure is the cause of so many diseases? In all our camps, the patients outnumber the health workers by far. We are absolutely helpless,” laments Dr Choudhury.
Ironic isn’t it that in a country which boasts of a free and liberal environment, these Kashmiri women are still waiting to exhale?