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October 16, 2006

UK: Hospital School Bans Muslim Veil

The issue of the face-covering Muslim veil (nikab or niqab) has been filling newspapers and media slots in Britain since October 5, when former foreign secretary Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn, said that when in consultation with Muslim women wearing the face-veil, he requested that it should be removed.

Veils are widely seen as signs of militancy, and as we reported yesterday the shadow home secretary, David Davis, wrote that Muslims were creating their own apartheid, and Phil Woolas, race and faith minister, said that a Muslim teacher who refused to remove her veil should be sacked.

This issue is not going to go away. Today, the latest development in the ongoing veil saga is plastered on the front page of the Daily Express. Birmingham University school of medicine has banned Muslim female students from wearing the veil when dealing with patients.

The school has 450 students, who are sent for practice to numerous hospitals and primary care units, including the University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust.

A spokesman said: "We do not place restrictions on the wearing of headscarves by staff or students, except in cases where they are required to work in a clinical environment. This is particularly the case when it involves direct contact with patients. In these cases students are allowed to wear a headdress as part of their religious observance, as long as it does not cover the face. This is necessary to help aid communications with patients and other colleagues."

Students can wear their veils in lectures or at the campus, but not in a clinical setting.

The General Medical Council has issued a statement, which reads: "We do not consider that wearing a face veil, in and of itself, necessarily has any effect on a doctor's ability to practise medicine. However, good communication between patients and doctors is essential to effective care and relationships of trust, and patients may find that a face veil presents an obstacle to effective communication."

Bill Rammell, higher education minister, has already supported the banning of veils in Imperial College in London. This move was introduced in November last year, as students who covered their faces could be seen as a threat to security. On the issue of Birmingham University school of medicine's decision, he said he supported a ban of veils in universities. "Many teachers would feel uncomfortable about their ability to teach students who were covering their faces," he said.

A policy officer for the Council of Heads of medical schools, Aideen Stoke, wrote in a student medical journal: "Most schools would expect students' faces to be visible at all times. When this was discussed by the council's education sub-committee, it was believed that covering the face while meeting a patient is unacceptable as it breaches the duty 'to make the care of the patient your first concern' and to 'make sure your personal beliefs do not prejudice your patient's care'. There was general agreement that many patients would be upset by meeting a student or doctor who insisted on keeping their face covered."

Khalid Mahmood, the Muslim MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, said of the University of Birmingham move: "We have to consider the safety and security of all, as there are times when people must be identified. Removal is fine where professional issues are called into question, when doctors and nurses meet with patients."

This decision has only been taken in one medical school. The National Health Service is doing nothing to stop patients from covering themselves up in Britain's hospitals. We reported on September 5 that politically correct hospital bosses at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had introduced a "medical burka" to be used by hospital patients.

The decision to introduce this hideous design for Muslim patients was made originally by a linen services manager, Karen Jacob, who said: "I noticed a gap in the market and thought that it would be great if there was a gown that helped to preserve a patient's modesty."

Since that bizarre concession to political correctness was announced, we noted on October 2 that soldiers in a hospital in Selly Oak in Birmingham were being put at risk from Muslims wandering onto the open wards where they were being treated. One paratrooper, recently returned from Afghanistan, and unable to defend himself was threatened by a Muslim who entered his ward.

Issues of security are more important than the religious prejudices of Muslims. The medical burka is another potentially dangerous addition to the increasing lack of security in Britain's hospitals.

The debate on Muslim veils will continue for some time.

Yesterday, the Telegraph noted that an ICM poll this weekend showed that 57% of voters want Muslims to do more to "fit in" with British society, and 53% of respondents agreed with Jack Straw that the full veil creates a barrier between Muslims and other people.

The poll was commissioned by the Guardian newspaper, and was published on Saturday October 14. Only 22% of respondents think that Muslims have done all they can to fit in with British society.

58% of male respondents agreed with Straw's criticism of the veil, while women were more "tolerant" with only 49% agreeing with his statements.

The younger potential voters were more supportive of the veil. 31% of 18 to 24 year olds agreed with Straw, whereas 65% of over-65s agreed with him.

The poll was taken in a telephone survey on October 11, which gathered the opinions of 1,023 respondents.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 16, 2006 4:29 AM

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