In the third such incident reported this month alone, another public building has seen fit to bar entry for a woman in “unsuitable” clothing – and in case you weren’t paying attention to the headline, told her to put on a sarong.
This time around, it’s the Sungai Buloh Hospital, whose security personnel stopped a woman wearing shorts from entering the main building, telling her to wrap a towel around her waist before she could proceed.
The incident, which reportedly occured on June 16, went viral today as “before and after” images of the young woman in the hospital were shared.
This follows a similar incident on June 8, when a woman was denied service at a Road Transport Department (JPJ) office in Setiawangsa for wearing a short skirt – she was forced to wear a sarong – and just yesterday, Klang MP Charles Santiago raised hell when news broke that two women, one of whom was a journalist, were told to put on sarongs covering their skirts in order to enter the Selangor State Secretariat building in Shah Alam.
The Sungai Buloh Hospital apologised over the incident, saying that it was neither the hospital’s policy nor that of the the Health Ministry to bar anyone entering the premises based on their attire.
“We apologise for the incident. It shouldn’t have happened. We do not bar any visitors from entering the hospital because of what they are wearing.
“However, we encourage the public to dress decently when visiting patients,” hospital director Dr Khalid Ibrahim told Yuen Meikeng of The Star Online.
A photo of a “how to dress” poster, which has also went viral, seemed to lend credence to Dr Khalid’s statement:
While the poster does endorse what it deems to be “decent” attire, it does not explicitly state that visitors who flout the suggestions depicted would be denied entry.
Khalid laid the blame for the overzealous enforcement on the security guard posted at the entrance, and said that a complaint had been filed to the security company contracted by the hospital.
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