Hospitals now require nurses to wear government approved coat and a head scarf at all times while working Ministry of Health released a directive obligating nurses to wear new long coats covering their bodies, full sleeves and white scarves to cover their hair. Expatriate nurses in the Kingdom have objected to wearing head coverings while working because they say they used to wear long tunics which covered their bodies. The Ministry of Health issued its ruling to start the use of a new coat with specific details which should never be changed. Nurses are complaining stating it is a decision which infringes on their personal freedom. “I work in a private hospital and I don't see the purpose of this decision because I never wear a scarf nor do I know how to wear it,” said Aimy Early, a Christian Filipino nurse in the Kingdom. Wearing coat that fits with the Islamic rules is not a new decision, instead the coat will be obligatory in government and private hospitals. “Most of the nurses are wearing clothes for a long time that do not infringe on Islamic rules; but we still want to ensure that they wear the coat in the government and private hospitals,” said Abdulrahamn Al-Sahafi, public relations manager for the Jeddah Health Affairs. Al-Sahafi said all hospitals are required to apply the new rule regardless of their classification as private or public. The religious education department in each hospital must ensure that the new rules are being followed. “Each hospital whether private or government have a religious education department, these departments work as our eye there where they will inform us whether the nurses are following this decision or not,” Al-Sahafi said. Saudi nurses are opposed to having non-Saudi colleagues. However most families are against studying nursing because of the mixed work environment. “When I had started to study nursing my family refused saying that private hospitals are asking their nurses to dress in long trousers and long jackets,” said Rua Madani, Saudi Student in the Nursing College in King Abdulaziz University. “Now wearing something that looks like an abaya but with different color will convince them that all the Islamic rules are applied at work.” A Saudi nurse working at King Faisal Specialist Hospital said the decision will give Saudi women more opportunities to work as nurses now that the coat covers their bodies. “Such decisions are good but people need to know that these coats are like abaya's allowing women to work freely without being concerned with exposing their bodies,” she said. “For example we have to wear a scarf but not one which is too long that it would impede us in our work. The sleeves can also be a problem since a lot of our work requires us to give patients food and drugs. A cumbersome sleeve will make our jobs unnecessarily difficult.” __
