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British Muslims refuse washing hands with disinfectants in hospitals on religious ground 

ANI 

Muslims in British hospitals are apparently refusing to wash their hands when visiting sick relatives in hospitals.    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 Muslims are refusing to use the hand cleansers on religious grounds because they contain alcohol. Health experts have expressed concern over the developments and intend to meet NHS officials in the New Year to find out a solution. 

NHS care assistant Theresa Poupa, 46, said she became aware of the situation while visiting a sick cousin at the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green. "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," the Sun quoted her as saying. "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," she said. 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". 

"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," added Dr Carol Cooper, who practises in West London and works shifts in accident and emergency. (ANI)