Working With Diversity, Northern Ireland Section 75 Equality Scheme Advice

Please note it is essential to check with each patient/client about their individual requirements.

Special Considerations:
Female patients prefer female doctors. Attempts should be made to respect their wish. Hindus are accustomed to having running water or a jug in the same room as the toilet and, if a bedpan is used, a bowl of water must be offered afterwards. Showers are preferred to baths. Women may wear wedding jewellery and some men and boys may wear a white sacred thread over the right shoulder and around the body. These must not be removed without the patient's agreement as these are normally worn day and night.

Names :
A Hindu patient is likey to have three names; the personal name first, followed by a complimentary name and then a family name last.

Diet :
This will need to be checked with each individual. Hindus uphold the sacredness of life, including animal life. Devout Hindus will not eat meat, fish, or eggs. Most Hindus will not eat beef (they consider the cow to be sacred) or pork.

Strict vegetarians will be unhappy about eating vegetarian items if they are served from the same plate or with the same utensils as meat. Hinduism forbids the consumption of alcohol. Strict Hindus and Hare Krishnas do not eat garlic or onions.

Strict Orthodox Hindus will not eat food prepared by someone not practising to the same religious standard. Some Hindus regard as unclean utensils touched by non-practitioners.

Some Indians have traditional views on when to take certain foods; e.g. they may consider it unwise to drink milk or eat citrus fruit when they have a cough.

Fasting
Many Hindus will fast on certain days. If they do, guidance will be needed from the patient or client and their family). At the end of the period of fasting, visitors may bring in a little food (possibly sweets) which has been offered to God in thanksgiving so that the patient can join in the celebration.

Fasting may occur associated with festivals, as previously mentioned.

Modesty
Hindu patients are likely to be unhappy about being in a state of undress in public, as well as having a strong preference for a doctor of their own sex.

They are likely to find mixed wards unacceptable except for emergency situations

Family Planning
There may be religious objections for many Hindus to contraception. Any discussion of family planning should normally involve both partners.

Birth
Relatives are likely to expect the mother to have complete rest for 40 days after the birth, to the point where they may worry about her getting up to bath in the first few days. Mothers may find it difficult to accept the baby being kept in a separate room.

It is traditional for relatives to bring new clothes for the baby and they may need some persuasion to simply leave the clothes with the baby rather than putting them on the baby immediately. Sometimes a member of the family will write 'OM' on the baby's tongue with honey or ghee (clarified butter).

A baby's head is shaved in the first, third or fifth year. When a boy reaches the age of seven, a sacred thread ceremony may be performed.

Abortion
Reverence for life means that abortion is not usually approved of. In some cases a woman will accept abortion in a desperate situation. In practice, however, attitudes vary and individuals may take a very different stance.

Care of the Dying
A member of the family may read to the dying person from the Hindu Scriptures. Before death a Hindu desires to offer food and other articles for the use of the needy, a religious person, or to a temple. These may be brought by relatives for the patient to touch. Offering a female calf is very important for a dying Hindu ; this can symbolically be represented through kusha grass. A small piece of this sacred grass may be placed through the bed of a dying patient by relatives.

A Hindu may like to have the leaves of the Sacred Tulsi plant and Ganges water put into his mouth before death. Relatives are able to collect these items from their local temple.

Some families may call a Hindu priest, a pandit, to perform holy rites. He may tie a thread around the shoulder down to the waist or round the neck or wrist of a dying person. Do not remove this thread or any other religious items before or after the death without the family's agreement.

When a Hindu dies, a priest is called to invoke blessings on the body.

Last Offices
Consult the family about what they wish to be done and whether they wish to wash the body themselves before taking it from the hospital. Often, elders in the family wash and prepare the body for the funeral. Non-Hindus handling the body can cause distress. Disposable gloves should be worn for necessary procedures not performed by the family.

Religious items such as sacred threads and perhaps jewellery, should not be removed except with the family's permission and, if possible, in their presence.

Funeral
A Hindu is cremated. Families prefer funerals to take place within 24 hours. The body is taken to the crematorium by relatives; the eldest and the youngest son must be present for the required rituals to be carried out effectively. The ashes are sprinkled into flowing water as soon as possible after the cremation.

Health and Social Care