I work in a hospital and our main concern is Patient Safety. Our “world” is all about keeping infections down to zero, and it is very hard to do when you have so many people coming in and out of the facility. Harder still is when staff members defy, bend or ignore the rules. Muslimah Media Watch posted the case of one such Hospital worker who says she was being discriminated against as a Muslim because of the facility’s “bare to the elbows” policy to try to stave off infections.

If you work in a Hospital the rules and regulations are for the safety of patients first and employees second. It has nothing to do with religious discrimination, but too many people and a growing number of Muslims among them cry wolf when bending, ignoring or defying the rules. They forget the reason they work in a hospital; to save peoples lives- not to expose them to infections that can be life threatening. If you can’t adhere to the Hippocratic oath of “First Do No Harm” then a hospital setting is the last place you should be working in.

As a Muslimah who wears hijab, I wear scrubs for a good part of the morning- yes- bare to the elbows and beyond because of how scrubs are traditionally constructed. For one you have to scrub-in and that means cleaning up to your elbows so no bacteria hides on you or in your sterile clothes. In our hospital it means everyone working in the clinical areas- most importantly the Operating Theatres, Intensive Care Units, and recovery rooms- have to be as sterile as possible, be you nurse, doctor, clerk or transport. Your aim in this is to safeguard the person who has willing put themselves in your care.

But this whole issue of it being against Islamic edicts is just another way, in my view, of making a stink where there should be none. Its a common thing now- you don’t like the rule- say you are being discriminated against. Being Muslim does not give you an automatic purview to do as you please by going against the rules of establishment when those rules are not with religious content but administrative and medical mandates. May I remind people that these hospital mandates are universal.

We won’t let any person touch a patient if their wrist length shirts or scrubs or lab coats show signs of dirt, blood or human sweat. Hygiene is an absolute must- but what is not, is the participation of employees who feel their particular religious tendencies are above saving or caring for a person’s life.

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