Even worse is when this comes from people who are ostensibly part of the "healing" profession — people who are supposed to be caring for the health and lives of others. Who is willing to take a chance on a nurse who refuses to follow standard hygienic rules because baring her forearms is "immodest" and therefore against her religion?
Minutes of a clinical academics' meeting at Liverpool University revealed that female Muslim students at Alder Hey children's hospital had objected to rolling up their sleeves to wear gowns. Similar concerns have been raised at Leicester University. Minutes from a medical school committee said that "a number of Muslim females had difficulty in complying with the procedures to roll up sleeves to the elbow for appropriate handwashing".
Sheffield University also reported a case of a Muslim medic who refused to "scrub" as this left her forearms exposed. Documents from Birmingham University reveal that some students would prefer to quit the course rather than expose their arms, and warn that it could leave trusts open to legal action.
Hygiene experts said last night that no exceptions should be made on religious grounds. Dr Mark Enright, professor of microbiology at Imperial College London, said: "To wash your hands properly, and reduce the risks of MRSA and C.difficile, you have to be able to wash the whole area around the wrist. "I don't think it would be right to make an exemption for people on any grounds. The policy of bare below the elbows has to be applied universally."
Dr Charles Tannock, a Conservative MEP and former hospital consultant, said: "These students are being trained using taxpayers' money and they have a duty of care to their patients not to put their health at risk. "Perhaps these women should not be choosing medicine as a career if they feel unable to abide by the guidelines that everyone else has to follow."
Source: Telegraph
If I lived in an area where Muslim nurses didn't wash their hands and wrists as completely as other nurses, I'd be sorely tempted to ask every nurse if they were Muslim and consider refusing to be treated by them — even though doing so could easily be seen as little more than anti-Muslim bigotry rather than a rational concern for my own health. At the very least I think I'd be justified in asking if they were Muslims and, if so, if they washed their hands in the correct manner — and then refusing to be treated by them if they said "no" to the second question.
Somehow, I don't think that Muslim leaders or Muslims in the healthcare profession want to see such questions become routine, but who is going to argue that patients should put themselves at increased risk of infection simply to avoid hurting the feelings of people who think that bare forearms for the purpose of washing is "immodest"?
I think that the "Islamic Medical Association" might. They released a statement insisting that "No practising Muslim woman - doctor, medical student, nurse or patient - should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow." Traditional Muslim rules on modesty for women are not only silly and misogynistic, but they might pose health risks for other people. I say that if any practicing Muslim woman believes that washing completely should be sacrificed so that she doesn't have to bare her arms below the elbow, then she probably shouldn't be practicing medicine or be a nurse.
That last quote sums it up: “Perhaps these women should not be choosing medicine as a career if they feel unable to abide by the guidelines that everyone else has to follow.”
It’s like a Jainist applying for work in a slaughterhouse then refusing to harm animals on religious grounds. If you know before you apply that you are unable to comply with the employment requirements–what are you doing applying there in the first place? Why would you even want to be involved in a profession that compromises your personal or religious standards of decency?
Anyone who thinks God cares more about the exposure of a few inches of arm for a few minutes than knowingly putting vulnerable and sick people at risks *seriously* needs to re-evaluate their religious beliefs, BFL.
Religion, magic, and taboo are everything.
(Maybe the 14 year old mind too.)
Is the immodesty related to being seen by others or being seen by God? If, just others, a convenient modesty stall could be provided.
Yes. It is stupid and inconvenient.
there were cases were muslim women had refused to remove their face cover for driver photo id on religious grounds. they had even sued in court for the right not to take it off but they lost their case.
the wannabe muslim women can train to become nurses in saudi arabia, pakistan, iraq, iran or egypt. perhaps they are more tolerant.
perhaps the muslim women can go nurse training in saudi arabia or iran.
Thats shows the stupidity of man or god? Both I think!!
if they won,t wash their hands send the **** back to paki land
The position of the female nurses and of the Islamic Medical Association is curious in light of Islamic jurisprudence. While, as a Muslim, I believe that all men and women should dress with modesty, most of Islamic legal rulings contain a caveat banning the application of the religious rule if maslaha (ie public good) is jeopardized. Fasting, for example, is prohibited for the sick, the pregnant and infirm. Muslim law requires us to break dietary laws when our lives, or those of others, are at stake. There is ample juridical basis in Islam for violating the dress code for medical reasons. (Ever wonder how male doctors perform sex-changes in Iran? There are obviously not operating on fully clothed individuals…hmm: http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/08/03/iran-allows-sex-change-operations.htm)
Oh, and the author is just being silly and provocative when he suggests asking his nurse if she is Muslim or not. All you have to ask is whether or not they washed their arms, which would be the non-bigoted way of solving the same problem.
Having read the article as well as the comments left I feel deeply concerned with the lack of understanding on both sides. The Glorious Quran states ” Saving one life is like saving the whole of humanity..” now bearing this in mind the health professional who do not adhere to this protocol are seriously lost in their “understanding” of Islam whilst being involved in a health care profession.I am sure there are many simple ways to overcome this issue
Now coming on to the comments left by the above, cannot help me feel their ignorance towards Islam and Muslims and their unwillingness to understand and solve issues in a gentleman like manner.There anti islamic sentiment is more than clear. This religion, who’s followers were the very first of men to discover and build on the knowledge of science and medicine in particular whilst Europe was in the dark ages. Please guys ( victor, eg choo etc..) Grow up
LOL @ the author. He wouldn’t NEED to ask if a woman is Muslim if she wears hijab… it would be obvious. A Muslim woman who doesn’t wear hijab obviously doesn’t worry about modesty so she would have already washed her hands correctly. Ignorance is astounding. I have seen Muslim women who wore hijab but would still push their sleeves up to their elbows. Hijab and modesty is a personal decision on the part of the woman. It is acceptable to violate the dress code when health is an issue. These women who are refusing to wash their arms because of modesty are obviously trying to cause a stink.