Cultural differences: Practising medicine in an Islamic country

Abstract

Islam and Muslims have been in the headlines recently for one reason or another. But the practice of medicine in an Islamic conservative country such as Saudi Arabia has not been adequately reported. Many questions about cultural differences in the practice of medicine have been directed at me by non-Muslim colleagues. Below, I have tried to answer some of them after practising at a university hospital in Saudi Arabia for the last 25 years.