DR Majid Katme, the ridiculous spokesman for the Islamic Medical Association, has rushed to the defence of a Muslim radiographer who was forced out of her job at a hospital after refusing to bare her arms in order to comply with new hygiene rules.
How long will it be before all Muslim women in the NHS demand to be allowed to dress like this Yemeni doctor?
Katme said:
Any practising Muslim woman should have the right to cover her arms, as long as her job doesn’t jeopardise the care of the patient. What’s the harm in somebody in her position covering their arms, as people in radiography have done for some time?
This is the same Katme, an NHS psychiatrist, who last year caused outrage when he urged British Muslims not to vaccinate their children against diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella because they contain substances making them unlawful for Muslims to take.
He said almost all vaccines contain un-Islamic “haram” derivatives of animal or human tissue, and that Muslim parents are better off letting childrens’ immune systems develop on their own.
Dr Katme does, however, appear to approve of vaccination against lesbianism:
We must vaccinate our children against this curse.
Dr Katme, a serial articulator of crap
According to the Telegraph, the radiographer was told by managers at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading that she must either follow the national dress code designed to combat superbugs and roll her sleeves up, or leave.
Earlier this year, we reported that a number of Muslim women training in several hospitals in England had 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.
She refused to abide by the rules and left her job, claiming she was discriminated against and forced to choose between her religious beliefs and her livelihood.
The woman, who has worked as a therapeutic radiographer for 10 years, has described her situation as a “continuous nightmare” and says she has been “emotionally torn about” over losing her job.
She said that she fears she may not be able to get another job, but has vowed to campaign against the NHS’s “bare below the elbows” policy.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she wants to:
Prevent the policy from being universally applied, so other Muslim women do not experience the same trauma.
number of patients catching superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile while in hospital, the NHS introduced a new dress code for staff in January that was designed to prevent them transmitting bacteria.
The rules require all doctors and nurses who come into contact with patients to have their arms bare below the elbows, by wearing short-sleeved clothes or rolling up their sleeves. Jewellery, watches and false nails were also banned to reduce the risk of infection by staff.
However the policy was criticised by some Muslim doctors and medical students for going against the teachings of the Koran on dress.
In the latest case, the radiographer was employed by an agency to work at the Royal Berkshire on June 16 this year and was told about the dress code. The hospital claims she initially complied with it and said it was “surprised” when weeks later she told managers that she could not abide by with the rules.
Clare Edmondson, Director of Human Resources for the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, said:
When she voiced her objection, she accepted the opportunity to meet with the Trust Chaplain and we also offered her the opportunity to meet with an Imam to discuss her concerns, but this was declined. The Trust Chaplain and Imam both stand behind our ‘bare below the elbows policy’ and support the Trust in this instance. They do not cite any diversity issue and agree that the policy is an acceptable professional requirement for everyone who works for the Trust in clinical areas.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
She has every right to look for a different job, one that doesn’t violate her “modesty”.
I can’t help but wonder how modest she can be when she makes so much noise over something that is clearly healthier for everyone involved, including her. Perhaps she has a different motive?
As for Katme, I pity those who listen to his ignorant advice.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Odd she should have complied with the dress code at first. Was she got at to make trouble, perhaps by (duh duh DUHHH!) a man with a beard? Perhaps – here’s a wild thought – Dr Katme himself? Muslim radicals are going around stirring up trouble. Great. Very clever. Because when you’re a small, violent and unreasonable minority that insists on insulting and taunting the majority, and demanding handouts and special privileges, nothing could possibly go wrong. Could it?
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Roll your sleeves up and wash your hands you dirty buggers. I’m just glad they don’t work in a kitchen serving food.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
This is exactly the kind of negative reporting that engages hatred and prejudice. As a white non-Muslim I am conducting my PhD thesis on the negative representation of not just Muslims but any social group that doesn’t fall within the American propaganda model.
The story released from right-wing papers about the Muslims not scrubbing up in hospitals was intended for the public to relate it to the more general hygiene problems of MRSA and turn public opinion against them – similar to the type of reporting the Jews had to suffer in Nazi Germany! Little mention in these papers of the Muslim women and children who are butchered by the West in Afghanistan and Iraq on a daily basis in the name ‘freedom’!
Most of the comments I’ve read here are not from freethinkers but from people who seem to enjoy being manipulated by the racist gutter press.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
OK, Mark. Here’s one not from a racist, and one who recognises the gutter press when it’s being twattishly gutterish, thank you very much, since I can tell when rags like the Daily Mail are stirring it.
But let’s be objective. It’s accepted that clothes can carry bugs, yes? If you don’t accept that, then we’re into a different argument. So let’s take that as read. Sleeves can harbour bugs that a well-scrubbed forearm is less likely to (unless the person is extremely hairy and has arm-hair nits, which I don’t think exist). So we have someone in a medical environment who is more liekly to spread bugs.
Are we agreed so far? If we are, then it is a no-brainer that she should roll up her sleeves. End of argument, as far as I can see. Or were you making some other point?
As for your mention of how papers don’t mention other important things such as the butchering of innocents in the name of Western “freedom”, I quite agree. Most newspapers simply go with the accepted (and acceptable – read permissible) narrative and do as their proprietors tell them. Their proprietors are hand in glove with politicians, who know how valuable those papers can be. So we get an unholy alliance. See, for instance, how the Sun here in the UK offered its support to New Labour in the 1990s, instead of remaining in bed with the Tories, and just what kind of Labour government we have as a result of that Faustian (Murdochian) pact.
Most journos toe the line because they’ll lose their jobs otherwise. It’s not part of the desired narrative at the moment to make a big fuss of people getting massacred because Uncle Sam says massacre them. However, true though that is (I believe, anyway), it has no bearing on the baring an arm if that will keep bad bugs at bay. A sleeve that is the bearer of bugs is deemed not as healthy as a bare arm, and religion should not be an excuse. If religious beliefs get in the way of doing a job, then don’t do the job. I wouldn’t expect a Jehovah’s Witness to work for the National Blood Transfusion Service.
March 4th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Muslim women have all the freedom to wear what they want and to follow their beliefs…as it is a personal freedom for any other women in the world.
I think we all must respect these women because they do not do anything wrong unless following their relegion is a sin.
But to be honest i must say that this all black wear is not a part of Islam…Muslim women can show their faces and wear something comfortable because the goal of these clothes is not to fatigue the women or to tie her.
But the clothes you see in the picture is more a tradition and a costume between the people only, and if you go to other Muslim countries you won’t find all women like this.
for the sleeves it is not a big deal because a Lab Coat is with sleeves and you do not roll them up…i agree that it carry bugs but today there are million ways to sterilize clothes before dealing with a patient.
The problem is that people do not understand Islam in depth and they do not know what it means to muslims…they just have the wrong information from media or any other way.
Finally, i want to state that all this issue is not a big deal…the big deal is that many people ignore important issues and massacres on innocent people…and waste their time on proving something wrong about Islam.