Muslim nurses refuse to wash hands!

[Gruzinit]

Coming soon to a hospital near you...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/03/nislam403.xml


Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'
By Julie Henry and Laura Donnelly


Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be "bare below the elbow".

The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.

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."

But the Islamic Medical Association insisted that covering all the body in public, except the face and hands, was a basic tenet of Islam.

"No practising Muslim woman - doctor, medical student, nurse or patient - should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," it said.

Dr Majid Katme, the association spokesman, said: "Exposed arms can pick up germs and there is a lot of evidence to suggest skin is safer to the patient if covered. One idea might be to produce long, sterile, disposable gloves which go up to the elbows."

[Sarah]

They should fire them.

If it is for medical reasons, they are allowed to show their arms. When peoples lives are at risk, they could remove half their clothes and more just to save that person. They are being stupid above everything.

[MasterWolf1]

They are such pigs.

[Ehud]

I suppose trying to keep their modesty is more important to them than preventing preventable deaths.  Why is it that these women want to become doctors in the first place?

[Dr. Dan]

SOmething doesn't seem right.  How can religious practicing muslims like that be allowed to become doctors in their traditions?

[Tina Greco - Melbourne]

Its already posted in the Islam section, but as I said there just don't get sick. 

[Sarah]

SOmething doesn't seem right.  How can religious practicing muslims like that be allowed to become doctors in their traditions?

By their culture...usually asian....they are mostly likely to go into the medical field. Some muslims believe that to educate a woman receives 3 times the reward of educating a man in Islam....though this isn't the case in all the muslim countries, which you can see for yourself.

[ASHISH]

Muslim women working at U.K. medical facilities are increasingly refusing to comply with the basic hygiene standard of rolling up their sleeves when their washing hands, it was reported


According to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph, female workers are ignoring Britain's Department of Health rules requiring medics to be "bare below the elbow" because they consider showing any skin — outside the hands and face — immodest.


The guidelines were put into place to stave off the spread of infectious killer bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients, according to the paper.


Hygiene experts said the standard should hold for all workers— even if it goes against their religion.


The Islamic Medical Association, for one, has issued a statement that "no practicing Muslim woman — doctor, medical student, nurse or patient — should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," according to paper.

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Reference: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327938,00.html

[nessuno]

Then they should not be able to participate in direct patient care...any kind of patient care for that matter.

[cjd]

Then they should not be able to participate in direct patient care...any kind of patient care for that matter.

Let them take care of their own kind.

[dhimmi_pride]

A few months ago Muslim hospital workers were refusing to wash their hands because the anti-bacterial soap contained alcohol.