Ministry of Health comments on reports that doctors wear hijab at work

Earlier, we reported that the Minister of Health of Uzbekistan lifted the ban on wearing the «hijab and other religious clothes» by medical workers.
The Ministry of Health responded to reports on the dress code of medical personnel.

According to the head of the Department of Science and Education under the Ministry of Health Uktam Ismailov, the most important task of the medical system is to protect and promote human health, people included in this field should differ by their behavior, clothing, and ethics of communication, and show respect and kindness to all colleagues and patients.

Therefore, on 24 March 2022, the Minister of Health issued an order on approving the Medical Ethics Code.

The document, designed to ensure that health workers meet their professional obligations, stipulates that the tasks of the document must be performed by all enterprises and organizations of the ministry, higher and secondary special education institutions.

“In Annex 2 to the Order, Chapter 3 «Rules of treatment of personnel and students and dress code» establishes separate and specific requirements for female employees and students working and studying in a medical institution.

In particular, in paragraph 3.1.2 of this chapter, «clothing, including robes or special, white medical clothing (medical departments with different colored clothing shall be agreed upon within the internal mode) should be made from natural fabric that is easy to wash, comfortable to wear, non-conductive, oversize, and it should be a classic, unobtrusive suit or gown without decorations» - Ismailov said.

Also, according to paragraph 3.1.6 of this chapter, female medical personnel and female students must wear a white robe and suitable clean and special headwear, the robe must be below the knee, the sleeves must be long (depending on the season) furthermore, the cloth is required to be free from foreign and various branded labels.

“These criteria set out in the Code of Ethics for Medical Professionals shows that doctors and nurses in medical institutions are strictly obliged to dress in accordance with the established standards during their work.

«We urge the media and bloggers not to distort the content of this order», - the representative of the Ministry of Health said.