A home circumcision has gone horribly wrong, leaving an infant dead.
A 5-month-old boy past away after his parents tried to perform a home-circumcision in a small northern Italian town. According to a report by The Daily Mail, the infant was rushed by helicopter to a Bologna hospital in Italy while suffering from cardiac arrest on Friday afternoon(22.03.2019). He is believed to have died in hospital later that night.
The report pointed out, a manslaughter investigation has been opened against the boy’s parents – said to be of Ghanaian origin – by the prosecutor’s office in the northern province of Reggio Emilia and an autopsy will follow.
BBC reported, 5,000 circumcisions are performed in Italy each year but more than a third are carried out illegally, according to health charity Amsi. Circumcision is not carried out at public health institutions in the Roman Catholic country. Many of the country’s immigrants come from Muslim countries where circumcision is commonplace practice, however, the high costs of the procedure push many to carry out the delicate procedure at home.
A World Health Organization report points out the surgical procedure is a common right of passage for most men in Africa. Male circumcision is one of the oldest surgical procedures known, traditionally undertaken as a mark of cultural identity or religious importance or for perceived health benefits such as improved penile hygiene or reduced risk of infection. Muslims are the largest religious group to practice circumcision, and an estimated 68% of circumcised men are Muslim.
