The Family Plan Department of Sulaimani Maternity Hospital provides free health information and services to 50 women who visit them for contraceptive health advice in a month. They have requested that their working days be extended by one day to coincide with the fifth day of women's menstrual cycle.
In an interview with KirkukNow, Rukhosh Abdullah, head of the family planning department, talks about their work, which aims to provide accurate health information and services to prevent childbirth.
“Any woman who gives birth in the maternity hospital, whether naturally or by surgery, will be visited by our doctor and given health advice on childbirth and contraception if the woman wants to,” she said.
"Family planning department at our hospital provides health information on a healthy way, and advises on how to control birth and how healthy it is to have more children, especially if the delivery is by caesarean section, as birth by C-section is limited.”
" This is usually the information provided in family planning departments in maternity hospitals and health centers for women who want to prevent childbirth or whose health does not allow them to have more children.”
In addition to this department, family planning departments have been opened in at least six other health centers in Sulaimaniya northern province, but “their services are more limited,” she added.
“In family planning departments, the appropriate contraception methods for the women who visit them are explained in terms of health and all necessary information is provided free of charge, but may not be available in all family planning departments,” Rukhosh said. Contraception is divided into several health methods, including the pill, injections, arm balls, vaginal rings, and other methods such as condoms and intrauterine balls. Their use varies from woman to woman according to the doctor's approval.
The Family Planning Department provides health awareness and guidance face-to-face, rather than through seminars. The teams of these departments are trained several times a year by the Sulaimaniya Health Prevention Directorate in order to convey information to women.
“Information and guidelines vary from woman to woman. For example, a woman with her first child is not allowed to use contraception for 10 years. In public hospitals, contraception is not voluntary, but sometimes in private hospitals, it's according to the mother's wishes.”
“For example, sometimes a woman comes to our department and asks for a contraceptive that her health does not allow, but the doctor or we tell her that the type she wants is not suitable for her,” Rukhosh said.
In the family planning department, if a person is about 40 years old and has a child, they are not allowed to follow any birth control method, Rukhosh said. "Sometimes the person asks for it because it's easy, but the doctor explains the side effects.
Abdullah believes the main challenge is that they can only see women who visit them for contraception once a week, on Wednesdays.
"There are days when there are ten more women, a maximum of 50 women a month," Rukhosh added. "We have asked for an increase in the number of days per week, at least two days.”
In the family planning department, the teams have other duties on other days of the week, including screening for cervical cancer, which is currently high among women.
