Niqabi Doctors: Oxymoron

Now this is just a disclaimer to remind everyone reading that this blog obviously reflects my own opinions. I'm not an expert. I don't claim to have a degree in studying human relations or human psychology. I do however, have something I like to call , "common sense" and it with that sense that we come to this blog post.

Let's just get it out of the way then.

Niqabi women cannot and should not be doctors.

I don't need to be saying this for fuck's sake!

Let's break it down into bullet points because I seem to love making them:

• Doctors don't just cure people. They need to offer ease to the patient. They need to relate, understand and emote themselves to the patient. Notice how I put the word emote there? How in God's name is one supposed to emote with a fucking black curtain covering their face.  It's impossible. I've worked with Niqabi interns and I can't even tell them apart. I can't even begin to imagine how a patient would feel talking to a Niqabi doctor. It just makes no sense. There's no trust because the patient can't see the doctor's face and therefore, expression. Suppose a doctor's giving a terminal diagnosis to a patient. I'd at least want to see the sorrow in their face. Not just because we are, whether we like it or not, governed by human empathy, but also because she could be smiling under the niqab. I know it's not plausible but hey, I don't fucking know that for a fact now do I.

• They're not 'big' on touching the patient. Now I might not be the smartest person in the world but last I recalled, being a doctor requires a 'hands on' approach. You must not be afraid to touch the patient and palpate for any abnormalities. You have to be comfortable feeling up a person from head to toe. I say feeling up because sometimes it does feel just like that. Now Niqabis are usually a conservative bunch, which means that they're not quite so adamant with touching and palpating a patient. They'll do it don't get me wrong. But they're going to do it quickly and inefficiently. They'll want to be done as soon as they can so they can atone for their sins of touching another man's body ( this is a joke. At least I certainly hope it is) This can lead to missed diagnoses especially in Internal medicine, where physical examination, is pretty goddamn essential to making a proper diagnosis. I really don't think God's going to be chastising you for touching a grown man's swollen scrotum. No matter which way you look at it, it cannot be misconstrued as sexual, even from the man's point of view. Unless of course he got the hernia on purpose because that's how he gets off: By having Niqabis feel his herniated groin. But that's like 0.03% of the world's population, TOPS!

• The Niqab will get everywhere. Imagine if you were a Niqabi surgeon. Your Niqab will always be touching the patient infecting him with your holiness, and thousands of thousands of germs. He'll die virtuous.........and of sepsis.

• They're fucking creepy alright? As a patient, I'd like to not be surrounded by a shroud of dark blackness everytime I visit my doctor.

Seeing this is a sure fire way of raising up my blood pressure. Just look at the eyes. You're going to keep looking at them and end up overanalyzing the smallest gesture. Look at the woman on the left. She's clearly fucking pissed off. Or is she?

 I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! AND NEITHER WILL THE PATIENT!

Point is, being a doctor and a Niqabi woman, in my opinion is almost an impossibility. The only area I can see them excelling at would be in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Dept. Even so, if you're going to want to specialize in OB/GYN you're going to have to go through all the rounds as an intern and as a resident as well. And even if you get to the residency, you're still going to have wear the Niqab because other men will most definitely be around you. And mothers, do you really want the first thing your baby sees be a Niqabi woman?  

Then why do they do it? The reason, I've surmised, is painfully simple. To get goddamn married. You would be amazed at the number of girls, Niqabi or otherwise, that go into Med school simply to find a nice young doctor to marry and bear nice doctor fruit with. It's a sad reality, especially when you realize that medicine here, is ridiculously competitive, and that she's probably taking the spot of someone who actually WANTS to be in medicine for reasons , like, I don't know, say, healing goddamn people?

All in all, this is just a personal stance I have. It's not against the Niqab completely. It's just against the Niqabi Doctors. So if you happen to be a Niqabi and a doctor, please , I urge of you, tell me how you do it, because I sure as hell cannot see how.