Women’s Clinic at Bohemia aims...

It is done to detect early signs of cervical cancer.

“If you detect early signs of cancer, you can prevent all of the complications that can come later if you are diagnosed with cancer. If you wait until you have those signs, most times it would be too late for you to do anything about it. So, we are encouraging you to check early – get tested early so can be able to help you in a timely manner,” she pointed out.

The clinic was established so that women can access private and specialised care. According to Dr Martindale-Tappin, many women feel neglected because they cannot afford the specialised and individualised services which they need.

The facility at Bohemia on the East Coast of Berbice offers such services, with close to 150 women accessing the facility monthly.

“We even have some men coming out and that was much to my surprise. We are going to continue to reach out to our men as well.”

Speaking of some of the more personal issues patients visit the clinic with, Dr Martindale-Tappin highlighted sexually transmitted infections and diseases ranging from yeast infections to bacterial infections.

“A lot of them come with different skin diseases and infections. They also have issues with their breast. Some of them might experience some form of discomfort outside of their pregnancy. They may experience lumps or discharges from their nipples.” Other issues, she said, include infertility as she referred to it as prevalent while noting that on many occasions it is because of a low sperm count on the part of the male. However, a hormonal imbalance could affect the menstrual cycle which Dr Martindale-Tappin said could affect wanted pregnan- cies.

“Apart from those issues we have some with domestic abuse; we have persons who are finding it difficult to cope with finances, issues in the family – taking care of their kids. Sometimes they have issues with understanding contraceptives. Some of them actually do not want to make more chil- dren but then they are afraid of using the methods of contraception that are available. So when they came out, we have time and the right atmosphere to explain to them all the different forms of contraception and together we decide the best method for them,” Dr Martindale-Tappin explained.

(Andrew Carmichael)