Days after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned all countries against female genital mutilation (FGM) or female circumcision, a 17-year-old girl from Egypt reportedly died after undergoing FGM procedure.
Although the Egyptian government banned female circumcision in the country since 2008, this was the first FGM death reported in the last three years, according to Associated Press.
The victim, Manar Moussa, bled heavily after she underwent FGM procedure and this reduced her blood circulation.
Egypt's health ministry while condemning the unlawful practice has ordered closure of the hospital where the circumcision was conducted.
The doctors and other hospital authorities involved in the illegal act are now being investigated.
Lotfi Abdel-Sameeia, a senior Health Ministry official, was quoted by AP as saying that both Manar Moussa and her twin sister underwent the FGM procedure on Saturday at the hospital.
Manar died due to a stroke under anesthesia, while her sister survived, the health ministry said.
The hospital, according to the health official, has a poor track record and does not have an intensive care unit.
He told AP that the health ministry was tipped by a Suez city health inspector of the illegal procedure.
"A forensic report is yet to be released in the cause of death," Abdel-Sameeia added.
Although female circumcision is banned in Egypt, nearly 90 percent of women have undergone some kind of FGM procedure.
In Manar's case, her conservative mother was believed to have been pushing her daughters to undergo the procedure.
"She died due to ignorance and backwardness of her mother, who regarded her daughter as guilty only because she was created a female," Rawan Al Jamal, a classmate of the victim, said in a Facebook post, the Gulf News reported.
Human Rights groups have slammed the country's laws, which sentence the health officials/ doctors to two years of punishment if they carry out female circumcision.
WHO earlier warned doctors and other health workers against performing female circumcision. The global health agency said that performing FGM violates the human rights of girls and women, and is against the Hippocratic Oath of "Do no harm."
According to WHO, there are currently more than 200 million girls and women whose genitals have been cut. These practices are mostly carried out in countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
FGM is the procedure to intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. WHO further said that such procedures have no health benefits for girls and women.
