Two Muslim patients were forced to leave the hospital prematurely after they were discovered worshiping. The hospital authorities also punished medical personnel for these incidents.
According to inside sources, on March 30, 2017, a security guard at the People’s Hospital of a county in Xinjiang’s Hotan prefecture noticed a patient named Almas performing namāz prayer in the Department of Internal Medicine and reported him to the hospital authorities.
Almas was immediately discharged, and the hospital authorities issued a notice prohibiting anyone to worship, threatening to punish the disobedient for “illegal religious activities.”
The hospital authorities also punished the Department’s director and the head nurse who had been assigned the responsibility of managing religious affairs. Their performance-related pay was withheld for the month, and their merit-based qualifications for promotion in 2017 were revoked. Besides, a notice criticizing them was circulated throughout the hospital.
A few days later, another patient Ayshem was caught praying and was stripped of her medical insurance for “participating in illegal religious activities.” She had to pay in full for all her treatment at the hospital and was immediately discharged.
She was also reported to the Political and Legal Affairs Committee as well as her township’s Party Committee as a target to undergo “transformation through education.” The director and the head nurse of the Infectious department where Ayshem was hospitalized were revoked of their duties; four physicians and nurses were also punished.
All the names are pseudonyms.
Reported by Li Zaili
