Higgins visits the Hamlin Fistula hospital in Addis Ababa

President Michael D Higgins described work at a unique clinic in Addis Ababa this morning as "an achievement not only for Ethiopia but for all humanity." He was "so pleased" that the Irish Government and Irish Aid had contributed to it.

The clinic's chief executive is Wicklow man Martin Andrews, who lives on site with his wife Harriet and their three children. What took place there was "extraordinary" President Higgins said, and he could understand why its founder Dr Catherine Hamlin had been nominated for a Nobel Prize.

It was “a model of public service” and, addressing Dr Hamlin herself, he said “what you have done is so exemplary.”

The Hamlin Fistula hospital treats women for a condition which is very rare in the developed world. It occurs when young women, usually in the late teens or early 20s, become pregnant for the first time and experience a difficult labour which can continue for days.

Childbirth does not take place, the baby dies and is eventually expelled, stillborn, from the womb.

However, during the protracted labour the young woman develops a deep tear (fistula) which makes her doubly incontinent thereafter unless she has surgery. In most underdeveloped countries this surgery is not available.

It means the young woman, through shame at the uncontrollable odour she gives off, retreats from her community or is shunned by them. She either leaves her husband so he can lead a new life or, more frequently, is abandoned by him. In the past there was no future for such women other than stigma, isolation and double incontinence.

Gynaecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin arrived in Addis Ababa 55 years ago, in 1959, on a short contract to set up a school of midwifery. They were appalled when they came across the problem and began to provide this fistula surgery.

They opened their Fistula hospital in 1975 and to date it has successfully treated over 30,000 women, some of whom have remained on to help run the hospital. Among the latter is Mamitu.

She was successfully treated for the effects of a four-day labour by the Hamlin’s 50 years ago and is now herself one of the leading surgeons at the hospitals and world-wide in repairing fistulas.

Dr Reg Hamlin died in 1993 but, at 91, Dr Catherine remains the active inspiration behind the hospital in Addis Ababa.

“I love it here. I love my staff, I feel so much at home in this environment” she said today. She was also at pains to waive aside President Higgins’s praise, insisting “I haven’t done it all.”

This morning the hospital was caring for 40 young women patients.