MédiaLab Investigation: the 5th investigation published examines difficulties that women encounter when trying to access healthcare in remote areas of Tunisia
Related project
MediaLab InvestigationRakia Selmi has published her investigation on the TAP website. An investigation into the effects of the medical wilderness in Tunisia’s hinterland.
In a split second, our joy turned to sadness, anguish and tears. In the maternity ward of the regional hospital in Kasserine, Tunisia, Lotfi Hershani lost his wife two hours after she gave birth to twins. We are still unclear about the cause of my wife’s death. However, Lotfi and his loved ones have no doubt that negligence was involved as a specialist doctor was not in attendance during the high-risk delivery.
In her investigation, which has been published on the website of TAP (Tunis Afrique Presse press company), Rakia Selmi reveals the failure of government policy to strike the right balance for the distribution of specialised medicinal products in the regions, and the dilapidated state of hospitals, which, together, deprive women from remote areas (such as the governorates of Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, Jendouba, Tataouine and Medinine) of the maternity care they are entitled to and lead to family tragedy.
Her investigation is the fifth to be published as part of the MédiaLab Investigation project after that of Asaad Zalzali on the trafficking of medicines in Iraq, that of Saïd Akrout on breast cancer in southern Tunisia, that of Dorra Abdelkader on psychological violence committed against women in Tunisia, and that of Wafa Arouri on the mismanagement of public hospitals in the Palestinian Territories.
Médialab Investigation is providing support for the production of eight investigations in the area of health in the form of training sessions, personalised support and a financial contribution to the costs of conducting the investigations.
