Saudi women have reacted strongly to reports of women being prevented from visiting hospitals without a male guardian by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) recently.

The Haia members acted after a member of the Council of Senior Scholars issued a “fatwa” (edict) prohibiting women from seeing male doctors without being accompanied by male guardians.

The women demanded that the authorities hire female doctors especially for conducting ultra sound and in gynecology departments.

“The Haia should order hospitals to hire female doctors, especially for ultra sound procedures and MRI’s because even if a male guardian accompanies her, the doctor does not let him into the examination room. So what’s the point of imposing this restriction? Instead, the Haia should emphasize the hiring of more female doctors,” said Hina Ashraf.

Huda Abdulaziz said it will be difficult to implement the order as sometimes the men of the house don’t have time to go to the hospital. Moreover, women usually go with a female companion and even then she is not allowed into the examination room. “Does it mean that now a woman visiting a shop or going in a taxi will need a male guardian? What about male drivers? Will a woman need a male guardian, if she were to go out of her house?” she questioned. It is better to have a good education and upbringing than to impose restrictions, she added.

Saima Ahmed agreed that there should be female doctors for female patients. “Why can’t an older woman accompany the female patient?” She wondered why the guardian had to be male. “In some cases it might be highly inappropriate to have a male around anyway,” she noted.

She said that the Ministry of Health should also have male doctors and nurses treating male patients only.

“It is usual practice for a patient to be accompanied by a relative and the doctor to have a nurse, trainee or assistant beside him when he sees the patient. Why are they making an issue of this?” She added that it should be all right for a female patient to be accompanied by a female relative if no male relative is around at the time.