By Dr Naresh Purohit (Epidemiologist and Executive Member- Federation of Hospital Administrator)
New Delhi: The life of the patient is important in an operation theater and that international guidelines must be followed.The demand by women medicos of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, seeking permission to wear surgical hoods and long-sleeve scrubs inside the operation theatre as a substitute for their ‘hijab’,
is absurd and should not be considered at all as patient safety and sterile protocols in operation theatres (OT) cannot be compromised .
It has to be noted that in hospitals, top priority is given to the safety of patients. There is a globally accepted dress code for medicos who conduct surgeries.
Moreover, the operation theatre is a secular place and where sterilisation protocol cannot be compromised with. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Kerala has made it clear that the patients should be the prime priority of doctors, and not any beliefs.
In the U.K., following the campaign by the British Islamic Medical Association to “raise awareness of faith-sensitive dress code at work”, NHS National Uniforms and Workwear guidelines were revised in 2021 to accommodate certain requirements of the group. But it was left to individual hospitals under the NHS to implement it or not.
Medicine should be allowed to be free from any impositions of religion and faith.The sterile protocols and dress code inside operation theatres followed internationally accepted norms such as “Bare Below Elbow” policy, which had been directed at ensuring patient safety and that these should not be compromised.
The demand of not being allowed to wear hijab inside OT has been made by a few individual students, not by any organisation. It is evident that these requests, which on the surface cannot be agreed upon, were made in order to stir up unwelcome disagreement and divisiveness. The authorities can only deny it since it can interfere with the sterilisation protocol.
7x5pjg85n7|100057829174tblpage|Content
7x5pjg85n8|000057829174|__vabriant|tblpage|Content|30B10E8E-EAB4-4070-85BD-F096D503A248