Public ‘inconvenience’ for women
Lack of clean public toilets has a particularly telling effect on women; they control their urge till they reach a safe and clean toilet. This retention can result in several serious bacterial and viral infections because of the germs present in the urine, claim doctors
By : migrator
Update: 2018-04-04 20:52 GMT
Chennai
Enough has been written about toilets – the ones without water, door or at times even commodes; the locked ones; the ones so stinky that they should be locked tightly; and the ones that do not exist except on paper. But the discussions on it is often limited to toilets as a civic issue of men urinating on walls, which is addressed by painting images of deities on them.
What about the women for whom this poses a serious health implication? When 23-year-old Shalini Magdel visited the city as a tourist two months ago, she desperately looked around for a toilet near Indira Nagar but found none.
“I had to control myself till I reached my destination. It made me sick, I felt like throwing up,” she recalled. It is not just the newcomers to the city who face this problem.
From young girls to working women and homemakers, most said they hold their urine until they reached the school or workplace, or a mall or restaurant along the way.
For instance, there are four public toilets near the bus stop at Guindy, but Supriya J, a 25-year-old working woman in the city, has never used them because of the poor condition and a stench so bad that those in the vicinity have to cover their noses.
“This discourages women from even going near the toilets. Many like me therefore control our urge till we reach a restaurant,” she said. That, doctors say, is the starting point of urinary tract infections and related health complications that are becoming common among women these days.
“Holding urine can have grave consequences, including urinary retention, severe infections, and bacterial infections that affect the urinary tract. This occurs due to the germs that are present in urine that sits too long in the bladder,” said Dr Muruganandham Kaliyaperumal, a urologist at the Gleneagles Global Hospital.
“We have been seeing increased incidence in women suffering from urinary retention,” he added, stressing that the lack of toilets was one of the main reasons for this. Not emptying the bladder once in every two to three hours can have three main effects: the urine produced in the kidneys cannot be drained; bladder gets swollen, which reduces blood supply to it in the long run; and stagnation of urine that can cause infections, explained Dr N Rajamaheshwari, a urogynaecologist.
However, despite these implications, the severity of the matter is not known widely, and many hence tend to ignore the advice against holding back urine.
“I have had many cases of women who come with complaints of urinary tract infections after having controlled their urine for long hours during train journeys. As toilets are not hygienic, they restrict fluid intake. That produces less but concentrated urine, which will irritate the bladder and can precipitate infection,” said the doctor.
Accessing private facilities
E-toilets, bio-toilets, and mobile toilets that were installed at around 350 locations across the city became dysfunctional soon. Then there are the toilets at bus termini and railway stations.
“We have a toilet, but it is mostly used only by our staff. Not many prefer to use the toilet here,” said a staff at Guindy railway station candidly. There are toilets at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus termini and depots, but most of them do not work. The functional ones are located inside the depots that can be accessed only by the staff. Though about 40 to 50 lakh passengers use MTC buses, the men are forced to urinate in public places.
“There is never any water in the toilets and cleanliness is something we do not even expect. I very rarely see women going to those toilets,” said S Kumaran, an auto-rickshaw driver waiting outside the Adyar bus depot. This forces women to look for other options like malls, supermarkets and restaurants. The first is not very difficult, especially if you belong to a certain economic class, but the latter two are not easy for a non-customer to access.
“We do not encourage public using the toilet within our store. It is mostly for our staff,” said an employee at a supermarket in Valasaravakkam. The answer, then, is more toilets, clean toilets. But it is easier built than maintained, as experience has shown.
“We are trying to look for various models with for-profit and non-profit agencies, and are seeking help from people to understand the requirements. In T Nagar, we are looking at the existing infrastructure and build new models based on PPP models. We are also sending people to Delhi and other places to study their models,” said a Greater Chennai City Corporation official.
BLADDER MATTERS
Our bladder has a capacity of 450-500ml
ADVERSE IMPACT OF HOLDING IN URINE
- Urinary tract infections
- Urinary retention Constant and strong pain when urinating
- Fever caused by bacteria present in stagnant urine
- Shivers
- Stomach pains Cramps
- Anxiety
- Distending or bloating of bladder
LACK OF LOOS
- E-toilets, bio-toilets, and mobile toilets that were installed at around 350 locations across the city became dysfunctional soon
- There are toilets at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus termini and depots, but most of them do not work
- This forces women to look for other options like malls, supermarkets and restaurants
- The first is not very difficult, especially if you belong to a certain economic class, but the latter two are not easy for a non-customer to access
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