Al-Azhar Observatory utterly condemns the disgraceful Islamophobia that Muslim Medics face in the UK, and confirms: “It is a heinous act offending those who sacrifice their souls to save human lives”
Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism has been following up the findings of the survey that has recently been conducted by Huff Post Magazine in cooperation with the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) and which has unveiled that Muslim medics face disgraceful Islamophobia from their bosses and colleagues within the NHS. The survey, which examined the institutional Islamophobia that Muslim NHS health care staff experience at work, has revealed the disgraceful Islamophobia they face from their own patients, with taunts about being “terrorists” and being told “go back to your own country”. It has also found that some patients refuse to be treated by Muslim doctors at all and others stigmatize them with terrorism or even accusing of killing people.
80% of the survey’s respondents (100 Muslim medics) revealed that they have experienced Islamophobia or racism from patients in the NHS. For instance, Shehla Imtiaz-Umer, a GP in Derby, said that she experienced abuse from a patient during working a night shift; the patient did not want to talk to her and said: “Your religion is about killing people and mine is about saving lives”. She said: “I was also offended. I was a Muslim doctor working a night shift and my whole purpose for becoming a medic was to save and improve lives. My colleagues did not stand up for me”.
Further, Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, which supports victims of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate told Huff Post mag. that they regularly receive reports of incidents of Islamophobia from health workers. However, “Muslim NHS staff put themselves at stake on the front line; but in return, they are facing discrimination on an almost daily basis”.
On its part, Al-Azhar Observatory strongly emphasizes that such acts are heinous and offending, warning meanwhile of the danger of discrimination based on religion that has proven to be on the rise in a number of Western countries. The Observatory also calls upon all the Western and European communities to show respect and reverence to all health services staff who sacrifices their souls to save human lives.