JULY 1 ― It is gender discrimination if the government plans to ban male doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) from delivering babies at public hospitals.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya reportedly said the plan to only allow female doctors to assist in childbirth is on hold because there are not enough women in O&G.
The Health Ministry supposedly received a petition in 2013 to ban male doctors and nurses from the labour room and the maternity ward for the sake of Muslim patients who want to cover their aurat.
It is inconceivable for the government to entertain such a proposal as it clearly discriminates against men. Luckily, Health director-general Datuk Noor Hisham Abdullah had the common sense to say that the ministry would not bar male doctors from delivering babies at public hospitals.
Religion has no place in public health policies.
If women prefer female doctors to attend to them, they can always make a request and it's up to the hospital to make accommodations based on availability. But we shouldn't have an outright ban against men from pursuing the medical field of their choice.
Not only is it unfair to both Muslim and non-Muslim male O&G doctors, it's also unjust to women patients who may prefer a certain doctor who happens to be a man.
A doctor told me that obstetric training for medical students is provided only in public hospitals. Banning men from doing O&G there means that they will have to be trained abroad; otherwise, male students will not have any experience in delivering babies. How then can they do their job if they're sent to serve in rural areas and they're the only O&G doctor there?
If the government only allows female O&G doctors in public hospitals, what will happen to their male counterparts? Will they be paid for doing nothing while the female doctors get overworked?
Or will they be sacked? This would open up the government to gender discrimination lawsuits.
Introducing gender segregation in public hospitals will mark a slippery slope of religious fanaticism in government policies. If the government bans male O&G doctors, will male surgeons similarly be barred from performing mastectomies or hysterectomies?
Will men be banned entirely from treating women patients?
Already, we're facing a resurgence of preventable diseases like diphtheria, measles and whooping cough because of dangerous anti-vaxxers who refuse to vaccinate their children on religious grounds.
Instead of making further policies based on religious considerations, we should be educating Malaysians that doctors are meant to be professionals who don't look at breasts and vaginas as sexual objects. Doctors aren't perverts.
There's nothing wrong with women wearing aurat-covering pants during childbirth if they want to. That's a much better alternative to banning male doctors entirely.
But we should also be aware that if everyone only wants female doctors to help them deliver their babies, then it would place an undue burden on women staff and result in overworked doctors liable to making mistakes.
We should be more concerned about the quality of doctors rather than their gender.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
