Health status of Kashmir women worrying

40% have endocrine malfunction, 100% Vit-D deficiency

Srinagar, Mar 8: Hundredth women’s day has some shocking figures in the health sector for Kashmiri women. Around 14 per cent of them suffer from infertility, 40 per cent have malfunctioning endocrine system, nearly 40,000 suffer from Sheehan’s syndrome and almost 100 per cent have vitamin –D deficiency as was revealed on Monday by director SK Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Abdul Hamid Zargar. In his 15 minute presentation at a seminar at Kashmir University organized on the occasion, Dr Zargar revealed, “A study conducted by SKIMS showed that 14 per cent of women qualify for infertility, a cause of acute mental and psychological distress.” Holding changing lifestyle responsible for it, he said, women were more obese than men “and therefore consequences are more common among women.” Zargar said most women here had early menopause. He said a large chunk of women population suffers from ovarian cysts “and one third of the infertile women have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).” PCOS is one of the most common female endocrine disorders affecting women at reproductive age of 12 to 45 years and was once thought erroneously to be one of the leading causes of infertility. Its principal features are obesity, anovulation and acne. On diabitis, he said: “We have more cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes in women, more so the specific type called gestational diabetes which badly affected pregnancy.” He said a whopping number of women suffered from endocrine malfunctioning. “Study has shown 40 per cent of women have damaged pituitary gland—the master gland in the body which causes hormone deficiency. It affects functioning of thyroid, adrenal gland and reproductive hormones. Thus affecting the overall body metabolism and functioning of various essential systems in the body. Zargar added that Kashmir has more cases of Sheehan’s syndrome among women compared to rest of the sub continent. “We have 40,000 cases of the syndrome in women.” Sheehan’s syndrome is one of the causes of pituitary malfunctioning caused by excessive blood loss at the time of child birth. It is a preventable cause if optimal intra-natal care and emergency obstetric care is provided to all the women at their delivery time. It reflects better maternal and child health care. “Hundred per cent women suffer from vitamin-D deficiency which causes osteoporosis and other bone disorders,” he said. The Divisional Commissioner, Naseema Lankar, who was the chief guest, said: “Women need to be educated about their rights. They have a lot of potential to excel in different fields.”