"A sterile environment and the safety of a patient trumps everything,” stressed Dr Sulfi Nuhu, IMA Kerala unit president, after the medical body opposed the demand made by a group of medicos to wear Hijab inside operation theatres.
Speaking to News18, Nuhu said the IMA, while expressing its dissent against the demand to wear a Hijab, is also awaiting a final word from the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College authorities on the matter.
“We are very clear that the top priority is given to sterilisation and a safe environment for the patients, which is also the protocol followed globally. There is an accepted dress code for medical professionals who conduct surgeries and the IMA also adheres to these global safety protocols. Patient safety will never be compromised,” he said.
On June 26, the principal of Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, Dr Linet Morris, received a rather unusual request from seven medical students who submitted a letter seeking permission to wear long-sleeve scrub jackets and Hijab-like surgical hoods inside the operating theatre (OT).
The letter, handed over by a student from the 2020 batch (name withheld) and signed by six female medical students, suggests that alternate clothing for Hijab-wearing women observed in other countries can be practised here as well while maintaining their religious obligations.
These students, who come from different batches spanning from 2018 to 2022, state in a handwritten letter to the principal: “According to our religious beliefs, wearing a Hijab is mandatory for Muslim women under all circumstances. Hijab-wearing women have a difficult time finding a balance between donning complete religious attire and maintaining modesty while also complying with hospital and operation room regulations.”
The students suggested long-sleeve scrub jackets and surgical hoods as a possible solution. They claim that by wearing these garments, the students would be able to maintain both sterile precautions and their religious practices.
In response to the student’s letter, Morris said the college would set up a meeting of an expert committee of surgeons and the infection control team to debate and discuss the matter. They are expected to respond to the request within 10 days.
News18 made several attempts to speak to the medical students who sought permission to wear the Hijab but calls and messages remained unanswered.
Meanwhile, the IMA has made it clear that the priority should be patient care and no opportunity should be given for infection to set in.
Nuhu stressed the need for rigorous sterilisation procedures, which necessitates wearing half-sleeve attire to ensure optimal cleanliness in preparation for surgery. “That is why doctors wear half sleeves and wash their hands thoroughly up to their elbows before entering an OT to ensure sterility and safety. This is a global standard and protocol that will also be followed in Kerala.”
Dr AV Jayakrishnan, a noted neurosurgeon who has also been the president of the IMA and the medical ethics committee in the past, said: “The basic principles of the medical profession are beyond caste, colour, or religion. Religious practices cannot be included in any of the practices of modern medicine. There may be certain principles for modern medicine and in medical practice, only those principles can be followed.”
Another senior Kerala surgeon, who sought anonymity, added that this demand looks like it has some ‘political motive’ and the young medics are being made scapegoats.
“In Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, nearly 60-70 per cent are females and a good number of them are Muslims as well. Never have we received or seen such demands in the past. The timing of such a letter makes it suspect,” said the doctor.
In neighbouring Karnataka, the issue of wearing Hijab in educational institutions created quite a furore last year. On January 1, 2022, six Muslim girl students belonging to the Government PU College in Udupi, Karnataka, claimed they were denied entry into the classroom for wearing Hijab.
As protests erupted on the issue, factions of the Hindu right-wing supporting students began to counter this with a demand to wear saffron scarves and other religious Hindu symbols while attending classes. The then BJP government maintained that students were to follow the uniform as specified by their management and wearing a Hijab would be banned.
Yashpal Suvarna, the newly elected MLA from Karnataka’s Udupi and the man known to be the face of the anti-Hijab campaigns, called the demand by Muslim medical students “meaningless and a joke”.
“This has become the joke of the millennium. Are these girls not concerned about the health of the patient they are treating? What use is their education if they are going to be tied down and become victims of the Hijab conspiracy? They need to come out of such beliefs. Today it is medical students, tomorrow our pilots will say they want to fly wearing a Hijab. This is ridiculous,” Suvarna told News18.
The Hijab ban in Karnataka snowballed into a political slugfest and the matter also reached the footsteps of the Supreme Court, where it was decided that the apex court would create a three-judge bench to hear it.
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In another incident at the Government PU College in Kundapur, near Udupi, students in Hijab were asked to go to a “separate room" and they claimed they were being “ostracized."
In January of this year, the Kerala government received a plea from a Muslim Student Police Cadet who requested permission to wear a Hijab and a full-sleeve dress along with the uniform. The Student Police Cadet is a schoolchildren volunteer force that operates under the state police department. However, this plea was rejected and dismissed.
(Edited by : Keshav Singh Chundawat)
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