'Medicine should not be used for playing religious card'

Thiruvananthapuram: "Medicine should not be used for playing the religious card. Long sleeves in surgery are not just possible because we have to scrub up. This is something one must be knowing beforehand coming to this branch," said Dr Sanjay Kumar Jain, professor, department of surgery, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal and president of the association of surgeons of India.

He was talking to TOI in response to a letter written by a group of seven MBBS students of Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College to the principal requesting to let them wear long sleeve scrub jackets and surgical hoods in operation theatres. "We respect all religions. Everybody has the right to practise their religious beliefs. But operation theatre follows certain basic discipline and we can't violate them," he said.

IMA state president Dr N Sulphi said that a patient is the most important person. "There are internationally accepted protocols to be followed in operation theatres and the primary goal is to save the patient. Such protocols have to be preserved and followed in the truest sense," he said.

Kerala government medical officers' association president Dr Suresh T N said there is an infection control system in operation theatres and the scientific view is to maintain the protocols as such.

TOI had on Wednesday reported about the letter signed by the students raising concerns over not being allowed to wear hijab inside the operation theatre and requesting to let them wear long sleeve scrub jackets and surgical hoods.

The letter said that they are not allowed to cover heads inside the operation theatre and according to their religious beliefs wearing hijab is mandatory for Muslim women under all circumstances. "Hijab-wearing women have a difficult time finding a balance between donning the compliant religious attire and maintaining modesty while also complying with the hospital and operation room regulations," it said.

College principal Dr Linette J Morris said that convenient dates of members of the infection control team have been sought to discuss the matter. She said that the matter has not been forwarded to the state government so far.