S. Africa acts on illegal circumcision after deaths
South African authorities are taking action against illegal circumcision rituals but were too late to save six youths who died after botched operations, a regional health official said on Tuesday.
At least 10 traditional surgeons and nurses had been arrested for unlicensed circumcisions involving young men and teenage boys in the Eastern Cape this month, provincial health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.
As part of a coming of age ritual, Xhosa youths in rural areas go to traditional surgeons to be circumcised.
“It’s not a problem if it’s properly done, but you get these fly-by-nights,” Kupelo told Reuters. “In one case, we caught one red-handed using the same instrument again and again. That is contributing to the spread of AIDS.”
The law stipulates that initiates should be 18 years old, but a 16-year-old was among those who died recently, most of them from blood poisoning and dehydration.
Some 300 young men died in the last decade and more than 70 lost their genitals - some as a result of badly performed operations and others as a result of severe infections.
Awareness of the problem of illegal operations was improving.
“We have been getting calls from traditional healers saying a circumcision school has been set up and they have not been informed,” Kupelo said.
Officials then used helicopters and off-road vehicles to raid the camps, arrest the surgeons and take initiates to hospital for proper treatment.
Kupelo said some circumcision schools also deprived initiates of water for up to two weeks as part of their rite of passage to adulthood.
“We’re trying to persuade people that times have changed,” he said.
“It is important that the boys get water or they die from dehydration. It is important that families look after the boys after they have been cut.”
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