Muslims 'refuse anti-MRSA gel

[Don_1967]

SOME Muslims are undermining the battle to rid Britain’s hospitals of killer infections by refusing to wash their hands when visiting sick relatives.

Dispensers containing anti-bacterial gel have been placed outside wards at hospitals all over Britain in a bid to get rid of superbugs like MRSA and PVL.

It prevents people bringing in more infections. But some Muslims refuse to use the hand cleansers on religious grounds because they contain alcohol.

Health watchdogs are so concerned they intend to meet with NHS bosses in the New Year to try and hammer out a solution.

NHS care assistant Theresa Poupa, 46, became aware of the situation while visiting a sick cousin at the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green.

She said: “I could not believe it - the signs are large enough and clear enough but they just took no notice and walked straight onto the ward.

“I was there almost every day for three weeks and I saw it repeated dozens and dozens of times. When I raised the matter with the nursing staff they just shrugged and said that Muslims were refusing to use the gel because it contained alcohol.

“They said they couldn’t force visitors to use the gel and I understand that — but I was astonished that anyone who didn’t wash their hands was allowed onto a ward.

“I know the dangers that bugs like MRSA can cause. They kill hundreds of patients a year.”

Michael Summers, chairman of the Patients’ Association, said: “I have been made aware of this situation during discussions with nurses and it is a very serious state of affairs.”

Sun doctor Dr Carol Cooper, who practises in West London and works shifts in accident and emergency, said: “I practise in an area where the patients are largely Bangladeshi and some of them do object to washing their hands because of the alcohol. But it’s fantastically important.”

Murray Devine, head of safety at health watchdog the Healthcare Commission, said: “The solution should be ensuring Muslims have access to soap and water. There’s no substitute for good old fashioned soap and water.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006600358,00.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. this is cultural, you know

and not Islam. I use alchohol-based hand cleaners all the time, and I don't know of anyone here who doesn't. The prohibition is in drinking alcohol, not using it to kill germs.

[mainegreen]

2. Further proof that religious zealotry lowers one's intelligence.

It's not like they're being asked to drink the stuff.

:eyes:

[Lost-in-FL]

3. What about good old SOAP???

Its still better than not washing their hands at all.

[Mythsaje]

4. It's not even THAT kind of alcohol! n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. How can you tell?

The picture doesn't have the resolution to be able to read the list of ingredients; and the artilce doesn't specify a different type of alcohol from the 'usual' ethanol.

Not that it makes a difference - as pointed out above, there isn't a religious prohibition from using alcohol (it's an Arabic word, for goodness' sake), just from drinking it.

[etherealtruth]

5. Any one that has had a first year chem class ...

... or a HS chem class knows the difference in alcohols.

This story doesn't ring true ... except in the sense that a few uneducated people may misunderstand the ingredients, hardly warranting: Muslims refuse "anti-MRSA gel"

A better headline would be "misunderstanding in some communites from developing countries ... "

The headline was intended to cast a group of people in a certain light.

[otherlander]

7. Atheists refuse to let people out of gulags

SOME of them... :shrug: What a silly article.

[originalpckelly]

8. The type of alcohol in hand sanitizer has a different chemical formula...

than the alcohol which is meant to be consumed.

Isopropyl alcohol's chemical formula is: C(3)H(8)O

Ethyl alcohol's chemical formula is: C(2)H(6)O

The difference between the two is 1 carbon atom and 2 hydrogen atoms.

That difference makes Isopropyl alcohol much more toxic to a human being than ethyl alcohol.

I have no clue in hell as to why they wouldn't be able to use a hand sanitizer.

[ContraBass Black]

9. "“The solution should be ensuring Muslims have access to soap and water. "

Sounds simple enough to me.

[otherlander]

10. But not chlorine.

That's a WMD, remember. :sarcasm: