The British Medical Association (BMA) is backing a campaign for religious clothing such as Muslim headscarf to be made from sterile material so that they can be worn in operating theaters.

At their annual representative meeting in Manchester, northern England on Wednesday, the professional association for doctors agreed to press for a theater hijab.

The support came after Sabina Talukdar from St Andrews Medical School in Scotland told the conference that some Muslim women had been told to remove their headscarves due to a risk of infection when observing or assisting surgery.

"This has upset a few Muslim women who would prefer to have more than just their hair covered up, and thus find the traditional surgical cap inadequate," she was quoted saying by the Glasgow Herald Thursday.

The medical student also called for screens where women could scrub up without exposing their arms when assisting or performing operations.

"The important caveat is that there are no repercussions resulting in a compromise of patient care. These measures could only be noticed by those for whom wearing a hijab has special meaning. There would be no reason for a patient to object," she said.

Yusra Khreegi of the Muslim Association of Britain said she knew medical students who had been given varying advice on the issue in different hospitals.

"There are not really regulations. I think it is the particular staff and how much they know about it," she told the meeting and suggested that Muslim doctors and medical students should prepare information on Islam to help educate hospital staff.

The BMA motions backed by a significant majority said that the National Health Service and medical schools should accommodate the religious practices of staff and students as long as patient care was not compromised.

 Source: Source: Islamic Republic News Agency