By Almas Shamim

Have you ever had to pee in a public toilet? Maybe one of those sulabhshauchalays or a toilet in a hotel or a café? How would you rate your experience?

While some lucky ones may have had good experiences, the majority would have had to face some unsightly vision and a stink that could kill. Yes, I’m talking about the pee and poop that we leave behind in the public toilets as if no one would be using it after us. This pee and poop accumulates over hours and people who wish to use the toilet have one of two options- either use the same dirty toilet, struggling to keep the nauseating obnoxious stink out of their nose or just ‘hold’ their urine in their bladders, waiting for some cleaner place to urinate… Both these options are, unfortunately, very unhealthy.

Using an unhygienic toilet, which may also have drops of urine on the toilet seat, raises the chance of acquiring urinary tract infections. This may manifest as lower abdominal pain, pain while urinating, frequent urination, inability to hold urine (wetting), fever and vomiting. Sometimes the infection could be fungal AND bacterial, causing severe itching on the inner aspect of your thighs (parts which come in contact with a western toilet seat) and groins. Both the conditions require treatment and can sometimes be protracted. The other side of unclean toilets would be that some may just opt out of going to the loo until they find a cleaner toilet. This retention of urine is very unhealthy and is also associated with urinary tract infections. (Not to mention the sheer discomfort of holding pee!)

It, therefore, becomes very important for us to urinate timely and in clean toilets. It is obvious that such cleanliness cannot be maintained without the will of the govt and the authorities that manage the offices and hotels where there are common public toilets. However, it will really help if people become a bit more active and take the initiative in forcing authorities to provide better sanitation facilities. The importance of a functional flush, water- both in the flush as well as in the tap are crucial, the presence of electricity and a light bulb are also very important, not to mention the presence of toilet paper and dustbins.

 In addition to taking up matters with our office authorities, it will also be great if we show a bit more sensitivity in the way we ourselves leave the toilet for next person. Do we flush properly? Do we wipe the toilet seat clean and dry? Do we flush the soiled toilet paper properly? Do we throw other plastic waste and sanitary pads in the dustbin? To ensure that others follow these instructions, small bright reminders must also be placed on the toilet doors and walls.

Here, leaving you with a few images that can be used as reminders in your office toilets:

 

Almas Shamim is a public health specialist with a great interest in sexual and reproductive health and rights, and feminism among Muslim women. She currently works for an international humanitarian aid organization in New Delhi