The number of working and floating women is increasing in the city but none of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) public toilets is suitable for them.

In absence of adequate number of public toilets in the city, men can respond to the call of nature in open spaces but women cannot take such liberty.

According to doctors, women suffer from serious health complications due to regular practice of tolerating the pressure of urination for a long time.

The absence of public toilets even prevented the traffic wing of Dhaka Metropolitan Police from deploying female police members at traffic points.

A sergeant on duty at Bijoy Sarani said once some policewomen were deployed for traffic control the DMP was forced to withdraw them within a week.

Lack of public toilet facility was the key reason behind the withdrawal, he added.

This correspondent met Sanjida Wahid (not her real name), a High Court lawyer, at the chamber of a nephrology expert. She came to the doctor for treating urine infection.

Sanjida said women suffer the most due to insufficient number of public toilets. Toilet facility is inadequate in their working place as well.

“From my experience, I know the toilets at most of the offices in the city are not suitable for female staff’s use,” she said.

Merina Begum who works at a garment factory at Mirpur told this correspondent that at least 350 people, mostly women, work in a shift in the factory and for such a huge number of workers only two toilets are available on the floor.

She said though the factory management cleans the toilets every morning, it is very difficult to keep them clean always due to excessive use by the workers.

The toilets are engaged all the time, leaving little scope for cleaning, she added.

“Actually I don’t use toilets outside home — neither at workplace nor while returning home as there is no such place for us,” said Merina.

Shahidul Islam, associate professor of nephrology at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital, said people who regularly tolerate the desire for urination for a long time usually faces recurrent Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

Stones can develop in their urinal bladder, Dr Shahidul said explaining the health hazards people have to face due to inadequate toilet facilities.

Suggesting setting up of adequate and well-maintained public toilets in the city, he said young women who come out of home for daily work are the victims of UTI.

“Public toilets are essential in a civilised city life for keeping the dwellers’ urination system safe,” he said.

Dr Shahidul said usually 300 milliliters of urine in the human bladder produces desire for urination. The bladder can tolerate pressure of maximum 500 milliliters of urine.

“But regular practice of tolerating the pressure for a long time causes infection in the wall of the bladder and disturbs the whole urinary system including kidneys,” he said.

Long-time presence of urine in the bladder often forms stones in the bladder.

Finding no or inadequate number of toilets outside home, working women are forced to tolerate the pressure leading to serious health complications like UTI, he said.

“About 10 percent of my patients have complications due to tolerating urination desire and most of them are young girls,” Dr Shahidul said.

Usually shyness to ask someone about toilet and unsuitable environment of the toilets force the women to continue such unhealthy practice, he said.

DCC has 69 public toilets including the recently constructed 38 in the city. The old toilets were not constructed keeping women issues in mind.

The newly constructed public toilets are supposed to have special facilities for women’s use, but in reality none of them are suitable for women.

The toilets do not have suitable commodes and urinals, breast-feeding space and dressing room for women and most importantly separate entrance for men and women.