Surgeon heals women cast out after affliction
GROWING up in rural India, Professor Ajay Rane was exposed to the injustice and inequality women faced. Now he travels to developing countries every year to treat them.
The James Cook University Professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and surgeon at the Mater Hospital spends about four months each year travelling to countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, to provide lifesaving surgery and treatment for shunned women and victims of war.
Prof Rane, a pelvic reconstructive surgeon, sees young women from Tanzania to Nepal who have suffered horrific rapes or complications resulting from childbirth such as fistulas.
“It (fistula) is the worst condition a human being can suffer in their life,” he said.
“The women tend to be young, they tend to have a dead baby, they leak urine and bowel movements so they constantly smell, their husbands leave them, their villages don’t want them and they become outcasts from a very young age.
“The lucky ones die from childbirth trauma and the unlucky ones live.”
Prof Rane has practised medicine for nearly 31 years, and was driven to specialise in his field to help correct the “injustice” women faced, even producing a Bollywood film in 2012 to highlight the issues facing women.
“Women were treated very badly … I wanted to see if I could make a difference and that’s what drives me now,” he said.
It is the support of his family and workplaces that allows him to keep going and face the trauma experienced by women living in conflict zones and disadvantaged communities.
“We see things that no human being should ever see … I don’t think mentally they ever heal, but we try to heal them physically as much as possible,” Prof Rane said.
It is a 17-year-old girl from Tanzania called Esther that constantly springs to Prof Rane’s mind. His own daughter is also 17, and Prof Rane reflects on the fear the girl must have felt travelling by herself to receive treatment from a stranger.
“She put her entire trust in me to fix her … it is amazing how strong these women are,” Prof Rane said.
“We were able to cure her. It’s amazing to see the smile on her face – it’s like winning the lotto 10 times over.
“There’s an Esther every three months in my life, we need to give more.”
Prof Rane’s amazing work has seen him nominated for a Pride of Australia award.
News Corp Australia, publisher of the Townsville Bulletin, is partnering with Australia Post and Seven News to stage the 2019 awards. Nominations are open at prideofaustralia .com.au until October 21.