PPIM wants JAKIM, Health Ministry to have guidelines on uniform for Muslim nurse

The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) and the Health Ministry have been urged to issue guidelines on uniform for Muslim nurses at government and private hospitals.

Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) chief activist Datuk Nadzim Johan said this followed a case of a nurse at a private hospital who was threatened with sacking for refusing to adhere to the hospital's dress code.

The case involving the nurse was among 20 complaints received by PPIM this year on discrimination against Muslim nurses, he told a media conference here today.

The nurse, Naziah Sauni Samat, 24, who was at the media conference, claimed that her problem started when she refused to wear short-sleeve uniform to work.

"I was scolded and chased out of the hospital because of that," she said, adding that she could not apply for a new job as her Annual Practising Certificate (APC) was being held by the hospital.

She said she had signed a one-year contract with the hospital.

"The directive for nurses at the hospital to wear short-sleeve uniform was issued two months after I started work there," she added.

Naziah claimed that when she continued to ignore the directive, she was not allowed to enter the hospital premise.

"When I did (enter the premise), I was not allowed to do any job if not clad in the short-sleeve uniform.

"I was also warned by the hospital management that I would be imposed compound of RM5,000 for breaching the contract," she said.

Naziah, who has a Diploma in Nursing, worked at a clinic before joining the hospital on Sept 1 this year, upon her return from Japan where she worked as a personal nurse for more than a year.

Naziah said she had lodged a report at the Taman Melawati police station on the mistreatment by the hospital last Nov 24.