Opinion | Postpartum and Privacy

After giving birth, she lied on bed in her maternity gown wet with blood at several places. This phenyl smelling garment cover her painful torn and tired body. She doesn’t mind the ugliness of her not so soft garment but the pain of her stitches under that is unbearable, her limbs lie sensationless. She needs assistance to move her spine. The sounds from her abdomen embarrass her. She feels uncomfortable to feed her new born in presence of guests around her. She wants to cry because she need assistance to go to restroom while relatives and friends sit there. A mocktail of hormones run through her veins, make her little depressed, little anxious.
This poor mother wants some solace, a little privacy, a calm surrounding but when she looks around her, people are busy in chatting, eating, laughing and few even find this occasion perfect to discuss weather and politics.
Her sleepy eyes search her closest partner, her husband who could have prevented her depression and ease her pain with a simple touch or words of love but he too is busy in catering guests. We all need to understand, that during hospital stay, couples need some space to face this critical transition.
A woman after childbirth particularly in hospital doesn’t want people to witness her uncomfortable moments. As per Islamic rulings also we have clear instructions about visiting sick, ‘when a Muslim visits his sick Muslim brother, he is harvesting the fruit of paradise until he returns(narrated by Muslim 2568)but this visit,doesnt necessarily need to be every day and for longer period of time, it depends on the situation.it is advised that the visitor should not sit too long with the sick person, rather the visit should be short so that it doesn’t cause any hardship to him or his family.
This is our moral obligation that we should limit our visiting time to prevent any embarrassment of the patient. We better should make a prayer for the speedy recovery, or lend a helping hand to help the sick person and his family.
Our dear prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) used to place his right hand on the sick person and say ‘take away the pain, O lord of mankind and grant healing, for you are the healer, and there is no healing but your healing that leaves no trace of sickness (Muslim 2191).
I may sound rude but this is high time we should discourage the culture of “pyal- bardari”in maternity hospitals.it serves no good. In our Govt hospitals we have anyway safety and privacy concerns and then even in private set up also, having mother and baby breathing same air along with five to six people makes this tiny creature vulnerable to many air born infections. Besides it is very difficult to stop people from touching and kissing the baby. In our part of the world, hand sanitizer was the thing of covid only. We would rarely see people washing their hands before touching the baby. Although our literacy rate has seen upward trend, but unfortunately, we have failed to stop the number of unnecessary visits and visitors in hospitals.

Dr Tahseen Gani
(drtahseengani@gmail.com)