Posted on 12/04/2007 10:49:43 AM PST by UKrepublican
Hospital staff told to make sure Muslim patients' beds face Mecca five times a day
The job of the nurse used to one of caring for the sick and needy.
But not - it would seem - in today's politically-correct Britain.
Now, nurses are being encouraged to spend valuable time turning around the beds of Muslim patients up to five times a day - so they can face Mecca.
In a bid to promote cultural understanding, they are also expected to provide patients with running water so they can wash before prayer.
And then, of course, they are required to turn the beds back around to return the wards to normality. The measures are being pursued by Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to ensure Muslim patients have a "more comfortable stay in hospital".
Hundreds of staff have attended tax-payer-funded workshops with Muslim GPs and ethnic-minority support groups on how best to help patients.
During these meetings, nurses have been told that if a patient asks for water to bathe in, or for their bed to be turned to face Mecca, then this should be considered.
If the measure is deemed "practically possible" and does not impinge on other patients, then it should be carried out.
And if it is not practical, nurses are encouraged to find them a bed that faces Mecca permanently.
But an experienced nurse at Dewsbury and District Hospital in Yorkshire where the ideas are being tested, has blasted the scheme.
She said: "It would be easier to create Muslim-only wards with every bed facing Mecca than deal with this.
"We have a huge Muslim population in Dewsbury and if we are having to turn dozens of beds to face Mecca five times a day, plus provide running water before and after prayers, it is bound to impact on the essential medical service we are supposed to be providing.
"Although the beds are designed to be moved, the bays are not really suitable for having loads of beds moving around to face a different direction and, despite our best efforts, it does cause disruption for non-Muslim patients."
Conservative MP David Davies also criticised the idea, saying: "Hospitals should be concentrating on stopping the spread of infections than kowtowing to the politically-correct brigade."
The workshops - led by the hospital's chief matron Catherine Briggs - looked at Muslims' religious concerns over being in hospital.
A key part of Islamic faith is praying five times a day to Mecca, Saudi Arabia - revered as the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed.
Muslims are also meant to wash themselves in running water prior to prayer.
Although staff said they would do everything possible to help patients fulfil these obligations, a request by Muslim women to be seen by female-only doctors was not guaranteed.
The scheme comes just a year after some NHS hospitals introduced Burka-style gowns for Muslim patients who did not want to show their face during operations.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust confirmed that nurses were encouraged to help meet individual requests.
She said: "Nurses have not been ordered to move beds or provide running water - they have just been encouraged to help meet patients' needs wherever possible.
"If a sick patient requests that their bed be moved to face Mecca, then it is right that the hospital looks at this request - even if it is more than once a day.
"If it is practically possible - and is not inappropriate or inconvenient to nurses or other patients - then it is right that nurses try and carry it out.
"We can also try and move the patient to a bed that faces Mecca permanently."
So point em toward Mecca and leave em there.
Is it okay to call them “Lazy Mohammeds”....
I think the Satanists want a constant spin.
I think there’s a difference between saying we shouldn’t be accomodating Muslims (we shouldn’t - this policy is idiotic) and essentially calling for genocide.
These are sick people we’re dealing with, not terrorists.
Is there any indication of what prompted this policy?
A much better solution would be a catapult facing toward Mecca.
America should follow the Japanese suit as well. Respect our culture!
Yes, I’m sure the hospital staffers have nothing better to do with their time, such as caring for patients that are in need.
I’d like to buy a towel, er, vowel.
You have just earned yourself one fatwa.
Thank you!!! I’ll put it on the side of my computer as a sign of excellence!!! Of course, I’ll have to find a place for it since the fatwas are piling up.
“Pretty much. Look what happened to the Roman empire, Mesopotamia.”
That’s B.S. The Roman empire fell because fo failure to keep their borders from surrounding nations/govts, continued failure of general values, and...wait...that’s happening now.
Way past time to nuke mecca and then the rag heads can’t face it.
...and make sure there is a bathroom between them and the sacred rock.
Or they can just post a cartoon of the Profit on the wall of the ward 5 times a day.That should make them happy.
If these people are too sick to get out of bed to face Mecca for their prayers, then they must also be too sick to get out to use the restroom. This would suggest that even arranging for them all to have beds that face Mecca all the time wouldn’t suffice since, as we know from their demands to redesign prison restrooms, they are not allowed to face Mecca while answering the call of nature. Nurses would have to rush and turn their beds around every time they needed to use the bedpan! In other words, nothing will satisfy them short of having the “infidels” catering to their demands all day every day.
Magna Carta, civilization, etc... Don’t forget that it was primarily the Brits, behind William Wilberforce, who broke the back of the slave trade, too. How are the mighty fallen!
If it’s so important, one would think local mosques would be willing to provide people to do this kinda stuff for the muslim patients and the doctors and nurses could focus on providing medical care.
“Now, nurses are being encouraged to spend valuable time turning around the beds of Muslim patients up to five times a day - so they can face Mecca”.....How about turning the bed so they face the door and throw them out?
Why don’t you guys just build a new hospital for Muslims only that faces Mecca all the time.
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