LCH

So my aunt says I don't update enough. Right now I'm back at the Landour Community Hospital. It's been pretty cool. Today I got to play around with the ultrasound machine and find the heart beats of a pair of twins. The mother asked me if I could tell what sex the fetuses were. I was so glad that I could honestly tell her that I couldn't tell. It's illegal here to determine the sex of the fetus. There have been cases of doctors being arrested for telling parents the sex of the fetus and then performing abortions if the fetus is female. It is sad that people go to such great lengths to have a boy. In the villages one family has seven girls and just had their first boy and the parents want to continue having children in hopes that they'll have more boys.

Right now is the festival when women fast for a month and they can only eat when their husbands feed them after the sun goes down. They are fasting for the health and longevity of their husbands. One woman came in with conjunctivitis and she could not administer the drops until after sundown. Apparently, the women cannot even swallow their own saliva much less administer eye drops. The most serious cases are when pregnant women fast when the height of the uterus is already low, meaning the fetus is already malnutritioned. I am all for festivals and traditions, but not at the cost of health. Patriarchy at its worst (or best depending on your view).