For health, security and safety reasons, nurses wearing the niqab could soon be forced to show their faces or be dismissed. Reem Leila investigates In recent years, a self-fashioned uniform for nurses has crept onto the corridors of several state hospitals. Nurses clad from head to toe in black or white niqab (face veil), with the two peepholes over the eyes covered in gauze, have become a common sight in some hospitals. Many times patients can only make out a pair of unsterilised thick gloves emerging from two cuffs attached to a shapeless garment administering medicine and other medical procedures. These spectral "angels of mercy" -- as nurses are traditionally called -- began the uniform trend seven years ago, when nurses at a handful of hospitals in Kafr Al-Sheikh, Beheira and Sharqiya began wearing the niqab. Official figures show that nurses wearing the coverall veil have reached 35 per cent in many hospitals, going up to 50 per cent in others. But Minister of Health and Population (MOHP) Hatem El-Gabali will not stand for this trend, and has ordered an extensive enquiry into nurses wearing the niqab to evaluate the phenomenon. The enquiry will last for almost two months, after which El-Gabali will issue a decree to regulate nurse uniforms by next February. The ministerial decree may ban nurses from wearing the niqab in certain parts of the hospital, such as Intensive Care Units and major surgery units, predicted MOHP spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin. Violators would be dismissed from their posts. According to Shahin, on 15 November investigation teams began their work which will take them to all 27 governorates to inspect and tally the nurses wearing the niqab. Each team comprises of three health workers who will visit at least three governorates every week, and will submit their reports to the minister's office. There are 204,000 people working in the nursing sector, 164,000 of whom are employed by state hospitals and the rest are divided between private and military hospitals. This figure translates into 22.5 nurses per 10,000 people in Egypt, explained Hoda Zaki, head of the Central Nursing Department at the MOHP. About four per cent of nurses are college graduates, two per cent are graduates of technical institutes, while the overwhelming majority are "diploma" nurses who graduated from nursing schools. Zaki believes that understaffing is the reason why the MOHP cannot take a swift decision against nurses who have improvised on their uniforms. Another reason is that these nurses could sue the ministry for interfering in their choice of dress and religious freedom. "In 2001, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in the strongest terms that it is up to a woman to decide what to wear and she should not be discriminated against because of her dress code," Zaki told Al-Ahram Weekly. "A complete ban on the niqab is now outlawed as a matter of principle, and an issue of personal and religious freedom. The Supreme Court's ruling could not be appealed." Ministerial decree No 140/1970, which was amended in 1996 regulating nurse uniforms, allows nurses to wear the veil which covers a woman's hair, but leaves the face visible. And while previous decrees did not stipulate any penalty for nurses who violate the uniform code, the new decree will include penalties such as removal to administrative work, stated Zaki. Shahin assured that while MOHP policy prohibits face covering for the sake of safety and security for patients, "it also recognises the need to respect the religious values of the nurses as long as they do not harm people's health." He feels it is almost impossible to maintain international or national hygiene and sterilisation standards with the niqab, especially that the traditional gloves and face veil are liable to harbour many germs which could easily infect the sick. "Nurses do not wash their gloves with steriliser after each contact with a patient," Shahin explained further. For security reasons, some have suggested that nurses wearing the niqab should show their faces to female security guards before entering every room to administer mediation, but this was ruled impractical. Another problem, asserted Zaki, is that many nurses wearing the niqab are picked on by medical staff and patients alike, and their profession credentials are constantly questioned. "They are generally treated as scapegoats by other members of the medical profession, and the general work atmosphere is filled with insults and harassment," according to Zaki. In an attempt to improve the overall standard of nurses, Zaki revealed that the ministry launched training courses for the staff, by adopting 14 central training programmes which will apply to all hospitals
