Urinary Tract Infection common in women: Dr Lubna Razzaq

KARACHI: Students must have the courage to inquire about everything they do not understand. Questioning culture is a missing norm in the country's academic institutes, whereas that is a tradition in advanced countries.

They should know that questioning is the key to learning, and that's why they should never hesitate in asking questions. These views were expressed by the Chief Operating Officer of the Tabba Kidney Institute while delivering a keynote address at the Department of Physiology, University of Karachi.

The department has organized an awareness session about Reno-Reproductive Wellbeing in collaboration with the TKI to extend mutual understanding in research and academics. Students and research fellows attended the program following all COVID-19 SOPs.

Addressing final year students and research fellows during an awareness session, Dr Ahmed emphasis on the significance of generating queries and appreciated the contribution made by the department in developing awareness among the young science graduates who are potential future health ambassadors in society.

He also acknowledged that the department is conducting quality research within its limited resources and adding positively to scientific knowledge.

Meanwhile, the KU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi, expressed that quality of life matters a lot, and we all have to think about what we eat and how much time we give to ourselves. He observed that the advanced countries have a better life expectancy up to 79 years; in contrast, it is only 56 years in Pakistan.

"People used to ignore their health-related issues unless it becomes unbearable and complicated. Lifestyle modification should be practised with increasing age like exercise and dietary changes."

The KU VC Prof Dr Khalid Iraqi advised that we should be more concerned about our health, and preventive measures should be followed proactively. He urged that students must spread the message in society and convince people to discuss their medical issues with a doctor. Such sessions are a good refresher and addition to the general knowledge.

Earlier, a renowned urogynecologist, Dr Lubna Razzaq, during her lecture, focuses on facts and myths of health in women. She informed the audience that around 26 per cent of women wait over five years to seek help from doctors while 33 per cent of women take about one to five years to share their problems with health experts, and hardly 41 per cent seek doctor's help within one year.

She mentioned that a Urinary Tract Infection is one of the commonest bacterial infections globally encountered by women, and the risk of women acquiring this disease in their lifetime is over 60 per cent.

She said that women could diagnose this disease if they are having pain in the lower abdomen, pelvic pain or pressure, frequency or urgency of urination, painful urination, cloudy or bloody urine, or fever.

Dr Lubna advised that if a female is complaining about a fever, vomiting, confusion, flushed skin, side pain, chills, and rigours, they should immediately visit their physicians.

According to her, UTI is more than twice as common in females as males and affects 200 million people worldwide. This is so unfortunate that women in Pakistan do not like to talk about this problem even with their doctors.