Malaysian hospitals should hire ‘Islamic chaplains’ for spiritual support, say experts
KUALA LUMPUR - The doctor who set up one of the first Muslim and other religious chaplaincies in a Malaysian hospital has urged healthcare providers across the country to adopt a similar spiritual support system. His call echoes a suggestion made recently by one of the country’s leading Islamic finance thinkers for hospitals to hire more returning scholars.
Dr Razali Omar, now a consultant electrophysiologist and cardiologist at CVSKL hospital in Kuala Lumpur, came up with the idea of giving patients religious counsel at Institut Jantung Negara (IJN), the national heart institute, where he worked for 24 years before joining CVSKL.
Dr Razali told Salaam Gateway these chaplaincies should be made the norm for hospitals. He stumbled on the idea when travelling north to perform surgery.
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