Dentist cut fees for women in Islamic dress
Manchester Evening News A MUSLIM dentist has admitted reducing his fees to encourage female patients to wear the Islamic headscarf.
Dr Omer Butt, from Prestwich, told a disciplinary hearing he would ask Muslim women to cover up in observance of Islamic law before he treated them.
The nurse, known as Patient A, told the hearing she was left `humiliated and upset' when she went to Dr Butt's Unsworth Smile clinic in Bury, in April 2005.
The nurse, a non-practising Muslim, claimed Dr Butt said she would have to find another dentist because she wouldn't wear a headscarf.
Dr Butt told the General Dental Council professional conduct committee the Islamic ethos of his surgery was a `marketing tool'.
He said: "If they are prepared to wear the headscarf, I am willing to reduce the fee or completely waive the fee."
He said he identified the woman as a Muslim because of her name, which has roots in Islam, then `politely' asked her to wear a headscarf.
He said: "I did request her to wear the headscarf. I said `It would help me if you would wear a headscarf'.
"Her response was she looked at me with a smile and said `Oh, that's strange'."
He said it was `unlawful' for him, as a Muslim, to look at a Muslim woman who was not properly covered up. He added: "If she was to adhere to my request, it makes me feel more comfortable.
"It was a polite request. It was a simple request. It was never more than a request."
He said that, despite her lapsed faith, Patient A was still a Muslim. He said: "For me to now call her a non-Muslim, I would be accused of committing a sin. I can't say she is not a Muslim.
"The only difference is one is lower in faith. It's like saying a Porsche and a Mini Metro, they are both cars."
Under cross-examination from John Snell, for the GDC, Dr Butt was asked if his clinic had a policy that women must wear a headscarf. Mr Snell said: "The truth is it is and it was a policy that you insist your patients wear the headscarf."