Iran makes Bolivian hospital employees wear hijabs

Good: The Iranian Red Crescent paid $1.2 million to build a hospital in the Bolivian city of El Alto.
Not good: The Iranian government is requiring that the hospital’s female employees, who are mostly Christian, all wear Iranian Muslim-style hijabs. As might be expected, El Alto’s doctors and nurses are livid.

According to local paper La Prensa (Spanish, English translation here), the hospital told potential female applicants that they would be required to wear the hijab during job interviews.

The South American country is in the middle of a national debate over the hospital’s policy. Lourdes Millares of the opposition Podemos party called the hijab-only policy “an assault on the dignity of women” and criticized president Evo Morales for “submission to the rules of another government.” Popular Bolivian television host and gay rights activist Maria Galindo criticized the hospital’s rules as well — she considered it a step backwards into the medieval era.

The Bolivian government and the hospital’s administration are in the midst of damage control over the hijab issue. Labor Minister Calixto Chipana, a member of Morales’ party, called the issue “a press war against Iran’s help” and stated that “inspectors were sent to the hospital and they couldn’t find any complaints about being forced to wear the veils.” Gustavo Torrico, deputy of the Movement Towards Socialism party, also said that he couldn’t crticize the headscarf ruling because the hospital was Iranian and it would be “as if he were treading” on Iranian soil.

Argentinean newspaper Momento 24 interviewed hospital representative Nadia Pou Mount, who stated:

“The veil is being used as part of the uniform, under the concept that the hospital is a bit of Iran in Bolivia. During the job interviews they were asked whether they agreed with the rules and they all agreed. [...] Within Islam, the veil is a way to protect women, show respect not just for God but also to the people around them”.

But the hospital was built in a region with high unemployment and there are few other jobs available, as this quote by an employee who wished to stay anonymous indicates:

“I have children and I am a graduate nurse. We were told that if we wanted to be recruited in the hospital we had to wear a turban and well, I do not understand what it means, but as I need the job, I have no other option.”

El Alto is the fifth hospital outside of Iran to be funded by the Iranian Red Crescent and is a part of the Islamic Republic’s ongoing goodwill projects in Latin America. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad participated in a teleconference to inagurate the hospital’s opening.

La Prensa reports that the hospital’s female employees lodged a complaint shortly after opening.