By: Rukhshana Media
All female doctors and health workers in Kabul have been ordered to wear the full hijab and cover their faces with black masks while working, in a new letter issued on Tuesday by the Taliban Ministry of Public Health.
The letter, seen by Rukhshana Media, is signed by Mawlawi Mohammad Qasim Haqqani from the Department of Guidance and Invitation. It specifically names government hospitals including Ibne Sina, Jomhuriat, Wazir Akbar Khana, and Afghan-Japan hospitals. And further states that female health workers must refrain from wearing tight clothes.
The head physician in a hospital in Kabul said such clothing is not suitable for female nurses and doctors to work in.
“How can a female doctor, wearing a long Arabic hijab, go to the operation room?” he said. “Unfortunately, the letter has negatively impacted our colleagues. We are concerned.”
“All female doctors in Afghanistan observe hijab,” he said. “The Taliban just wants to eliminate them from the health sectors in the country.”
The order has been issued despite recent assurances from the Taliban that women, who have been banned from multiple fields of study and from working in NGOs, can continue to work in the health sector.
A number of female doctors in Kabul said the Taliban’s restrictions are so onerous that the Taliban simply do not want women to be active in society. They regard the order as simply a way for the Taliban to prevent their work under the pretext of the hijab and Sharia law.
Mahtab (pseudonym), an assistant doctor specializing in surgery in one of Kabul’s government hospitals, tells Rukhshana Media that she cannot continue her work with unprofessional clothing.
“I was surprised by what logic the Taliban used to make this decision,” she said. “A female doctor should collect her clothes in the operation or take care of the patient.”
“Since I saw this decree, I was disgusted. I cannot continue to work in my profession. We female doctors have studied for a lifetime and gained the expertise to what, perform operations under the burqa?” she said. “If the order is not removed, no female doctor will be able to continue working.”
