DISASTERS OF KHATNA OR RELIGIOUS MALE CIRCUMCISION

Abstract

Introduction:- Male circumcision (MC) refers to partial or complete excision of foreskin or prepuce of penis. Generally categorized into Therapeutic, Prophylactic , Religious and Personal causes. In India, religious circumcision often seen amongst muslims called Khatna, arabic term for circumcision. Aim:-To emphasize complications of religious male circumcision performed by traditional circumciser. Duration Of Study:-1 year between May 2021 till May 2022. Methodology:- 240 samples obtained from both cases that presented to hospital in a span of 1 year and community based questionnaire used to survey 7 schools for circumcised male children between 1-10 years of age. Discussion:-Very few epidemiological studies reported complications especially in a multi-ethnic country like India .There are wide fluctuations in prevalence of complications in reported studies possibly due to variation of methodological issues and definition of complications . Results:- Of the 240 circumcised boys only 5% were performed by doctors and rest by traditional circumcisers with complications in 95 boys(39.5%).Most commonly observed complications were bleeding ,seen in37(56.9%) and infection in 33(50.7%) while the remaining were minimal. Conclusion:- Protect the rights of children through community education and whether a National Health Program should be implemented for non-therapeutic MC on minors either free of charge or , atleast , for an affordable fee.