CLINIC MATTERS: GUESS WHO SEXUALLY ABUSED THIS KID?

(Had to remove the previous pics. People think it's the client...I'm not that callous abeg O! It was just an illustrative pics!)

To be a doctor is definitely not 'beans'. Sometimes, one needs to be 'extra-terrestrial' to make a diagnosis. And please by extra-terrestrial, I mean everything other than 'flying objects' e.g winch and co. Lol!

I am referring to a peculiar case I saw today. Thank God I took note of details...nothing passed me by.

AGE: 9 year old

GENDER: Female

STATUS: Primary 5 pupil at a public school. Lives with parents and 2 younger siblings.

COMPLAINTS: Recurrent history of pain on urinating. Foul smelling vaginal discharge (minimal though)

It was her father that brought her to the clinic (I thought that was odd, but I kept on. No need jumping to conclusions just yet). I enquired about her mother and was shocked to hear that my client's mum chose to remain outside the consulting room. Her father insisted that it was okay for the mum to remain outside. *Hmmm...*

All this while, my client hadn't said a word, she just kept staring at me and nodding at every word her father said about her ailment and how and when it started. This was getting too much for me, this guy had got to leave my office so that I investigate objectively. Yes, I politely asked him to excuse us. At first, he hesitated.

It took minutes before I could gain my client's confidence. And when she finally did, she trembled as she gave a list of the men that have been sexually abusing, including her father. This has been going on for 2 years and it started with her father. Apparently, her mother and father are really not together and so she and her siblings have been living alone with their father. Her mother would visit only once in a while or call. She never had the courage to tell her mother because the closeness wasn't there...and that explains why her mother felt she had to stay outside. *How lame*

Any way family and client have been referred to the clinical psychologist.

We need to really pay more attention to your kids. Sexual abuse is real and can come from anywhere.