AN NHS consultant has been suspended for revealing how a Muslim surgeon refused to remove her hijab for an operation — even though it broke hospital health rules.
Dr Vladislav Rogozov said in a blog that he confronted her as they scrubbed up when he realised she planned to keep the Islamic scarf on during surgery.
He claimed the hijab was spotted with blood from previous operations. But she refused to remove it and walked out, forcing the hospital to find a stand-in.
The Muslim surgeon walked out on a patient as a surgery was about to begin. She should never be permitted to work in healthcare again.
The unnamed surgeon later accused anaesthetist Dr Rogozov, 46, of racial discrimination.
Why is she unnamed? Her name should be shared worldwide.
She left Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital after a hospital investigation backed Dr Rogozov for enforcing its strict dress code.
It says religious headscarfs are “excluded in areas such as theatre, where they could present a health and cross-infection hazard.”
The incident was not made public at the time.
But Czech-born Dr Rogozov has now been suspended for revealing the hijab bust-up in an interview with an online blog.
In it, he claims other medics had been concerned about the breach of health rules but feared speaking out.
He said: “No one dared to highlight this issue because they feared being accused of racism.”
What race is Islam?
Dr Rogozov also claimed Muslim staff took unscheduled prayer breaks during surgery and alleged a male doctor had recited from the Koran during an operation.
A source said: “Dr Rogozov won’t tolerate anything that puts patients at risk.
“It has nothing to do with the medics being Muslims. It’s his fear they let their beliefs come before the patients.”
It is understood Dr Rogozov was suspended last month pending an inquiry after his blog remarks were repeated in a Slovakian newspaper and a Czech website.
The hijab incident was in 2013. His claims of Koran recital and prayer breaks are more recent.
The allegations by Dr Rogozov, who has lived and worked in Britain for a decade, are also being investigated by the NHS.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals’ spokesman Dr David Throssell said: “Patient safety is our top priority. As soon as we were made aware of the publication of allegations we began an investigation.”
