Gynecologists from several northern municipalities say they are dissatisfied with how women take care of reproductive health.
They claim that they come to gynecological clinics mostly when they have to, and not when they should.
Doctors explain that health centers have the necessary equipment for preventive examinations, but that it is difficult to convince women to take advantage of these opportunities.
When they finish giving birth, especially women from smaller towns forget about gynecological clinics, or enter them with shame.
"I am very satisfied with the way and how much women take care of their health. They are not aware of the importance of prevention. There are many reasons for this. Patriarchal upbringing, which entails fear and shame... A visit to a gynecologist in our region, unfortunately, is still perceived as an 'attack on morals'. Many times I heard from female patients that they would come for an examination during the doctor's duty 'when no one is looking'. This is very worrying and a lot of education and information is needed to change such an attitude", says Dr. Radovan Asanović from Beran.
He claims that there are not rare cases when they come to surgery with a tumor the size of a human head.
He points out that there are no rules when it comes to age, so last month an old woman underwent the procedure, as well as a twenty-six-year-old girl from the north.
Kolašin gynecologist Danka Marković, PhD, says that she is dissatisfied with the way her fellow citizens treat health.
"I have really extreme examples in my practice. I recently examined a patient with invasive cervical cancer. It is about a fifty-three-year-old woman, who had not been to a gynecologist for three decades before that. More precisely, the last time she was examined was when she gave birth to a child, who is now a grown man. She felt discomfort for six months before contacting me."
Marković says that she also uses the opportunity when patients come for some other reason to take a sample for a PAPA test or do a colposcopy.
Sex education?
Asanović assessed that many problems would be solved by introducing sex education in secondary schools.
In this way, he explains, women would get a real picture of their body very early on, the dangers that lurk and how to protect yourself, and often save your life.
"If there are no financial opportunities for that subject in high schools, then frequent lectures by gynecologists for high school students should definitely be organized. It used to be like that".
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