Women patients & male doctors
This is with reference to the news item "Segregation rules affect women patients" (Oct 23). It tells a tale of utmost senselessness on the part of the obscurantist regime of the NWFP.
According to the report, an Afghan refugee woman, Sehr Jan, died in childbirth at a camp near Peshawar because male doctors and technicians of the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, refused to attend to her, thanks to the ban imposed by the provincial government on treatment of women patients by the male doctors.
That is not all, it was the 10th death caused by the rigours of labour in the absence of a doctor (we do not know how many more went unreported).
Shocking is a euphemism to describe the feelings of a sane person over this sheer madness. More so is the justification for this ban given by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal provincial secretary-general, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, describing it to be in line with Islamic teachings, "We think men could derive sexual ecstasy from women’s bodies while conducting ECG or ultrasound? Similarly, some women could lure the men under the ECG or ultrasound cover. In both cases, perversion could prevail."
Our mullahs are obsessed with the word "woman" and "sex". There is no other justification for their brutal measures. These clerics are pushing our society back into the dark ages, that too in the name of the most dynamic of religions.
It is about time the saner elements of our society came forward to put a leash on the willful actions of these people; else there will be no end to their exploits. They are not only brutalizing simple people in the name of religion, but also defaming our country. Above all, it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that a single group does not push its narrow agenda at the expense of people and the country.
Baloch unity deplores such backwardness in these modern times and they are clearly going against the main preachingâ?Ts of Islam they have made Islam hostage in some parts of Pakistan, we call upon healthy powers to come forward and stand up against such stupid verdicts. |
