A Muslim doctor from Jammu and Kashmir gave up his seat at a super speciality medical course after a private hospital in Tamil Nadu allegedly asked him to shave his beard. The doctor said this demand violated his religious beliefs.
The doctor, who didn’t want to be named, was allotted a seat in the nephrology department at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH), Coimbatore, through NEET Super Speciality (SS) counselling. But when he went to join, he said the hospital asked him to sign a document that banned having a beard.
“I was ready to wear the uniform and even cover my beard with a mask,” he told Careers360.
“But they said it’s a corporate policy and the chairman made this rule after studying in the US. I was told I had to trim my beard or I wouldn’t be allowed to join.”
The doctor said his beard is part of his religious identity and he has never faced such a rule before, even during his MBBS, MD, and senior residency at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar.
“I follow Islamic teachings, and keeping a beard is part of my faith. India is a secular country and the Constitution allows me to follow my religion freely,” he wrote in a complaint to the National Medical Commission (NMC).
“How can facial hair affect my medical training or patient care, especially when it doesn’t affect hygiene?”Following the complaint, the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) told the hospital to let him join.
But the doctor decided not to go back.
“I don’t want to study in a place where I’ll be under pressure for three years,” he said. “Even if I go to court, it’ll be stressful. I’ll try at another hospital or next year.”
The hospital claimed they didn’t reject him for having a beard, but because he didn’t pay the admission fees. The hospital’s medical director, Dr TP Kalaniti, said, “He can still come and join if he pays the fees, but he must follow our policy.”
Dr Kalaniti added, “We don’t ask to remove the beard completely. It just has to be trimmed. We can’t allow a long beard like a clergyman. All our doctors must look clean and wear ID cards and proper shoes.”
When asked about Sikh candidates who also keep beards for religious reasons, he said they could tie their beard and follow the same policy.
