Lack of proper toilets is a cause of concern, inviting diseases – doctors

Hyderabad: Holding one’s bladder for more than three hours can have repercussions as it leads to growth of bacteria and ultimately urinary tract infections.
With no proper access to clean and hygienic toilets most college going girls and also working women hold their bladder for too long, becoming prone to constant infections.

Dr Pranati Reddy, gynecologist and urologist at Rainbow Hospitals said, “Most working women consume less water as they do not have access to good bathrooms. The intake of less water has its effect as urine is concentrated. The body also suffers as sufficient water is not provided.”

Recurrence of urinary tract infections is not good as frequent episodes make people resistant to antibiotics and also makes the bladder weak.Dr N.P. Padmakar, urologist at Care Hospitals said, “Holding your bladder for too long makes it inactive and lazy. The function of the bladder is to empty out every time it is full and if this act is not performed its muscles tend to become weak.

Many young college going girls do not prefer to use rest rooms as they are not clean. It is the duty of the colleges, schools and also private establishments to provide clean, neat and hygienic rest rooms for women. For elderly women, the complications are too many as they tend to contact infections faster and treating those infections sometimes takes too long.”

Often at this age, infections tend to complicate matters and become life-threatening, explained doctors who feel that the government must not deny this dignity to both men and women. Urologist Dr Khalid Abdul said, “Men prefer to stand wherever they want but fail to realise that they can get infections too as the use of water is absolutely nil. At the same time, these habits make them negligent towards observing good hygiene habits further leading to infections.”