Head of the Center on the Jurisprudence of the Infallible Imams:

A female or male patient can visit a doctor
from the opposite gender, if necessary.

Head of the Center on the Jurisprudence of the Infallible Imams said in his meeting with the deputy of the of health ministry that medical treatment and training, giving awareness about dangerous and infectious diseases such as AIDS were very important.  He described the existence of such diseases as a crisis for Muslim countries.

As reported by Rasa reporter, Sheikh Muhammad Fazel Lankarani described the fatal and infectious diseases including AIDS as a crisis for human societies especially Iran.

"In order to prevent these diseases from spreading, it is very important to educate people and give awareness to them.  It so happens sometimes that due to negligence or lack of precautionary measures the youth fall into serious dangers," Sheikh Jawad Lankarani said.

He remarked, "From a religious point of view, it would be forbidden to demonstrate and reveal realities to people if it would cause an evil or result in dissemination of evil; If an individual, let's say, talks about an evil with the intention to spread it, there is a religious objection to doing so but it is necessary to alert the public to these issues and warn them about the consequences of illegal sexual relations. Certainly, these problems come from the West as they are trying to harm the Islamic societies in one way or the other."

With reference to some Quranic verses and narrations, head of the Center on the Jurisprudence of the Infallible Imams said:  "In Islam, it is necessary to introduce to the public the person who is spreading corruption because it is very important for them to know him. One of the manifestations of spreading corruption is to talk about the corruption with the intention to spread it so as to harm the society but if the intention is to give awareness to  the public which even may be necessary.  Of course, the circumstances and limitations must be taken into consideration."

He said that gender conformity project was one of the long cherished wishes of the Islamic republic of Iran. "Government authorities in charge of the medical affairs are expected to work out such plans that would enable men to visit male doctors and women to visit female doctors," he said.

He further added, "Despite the fact that Islam stresses greatly on observing the restrictions between women and men in cases where enough proficiency is not seen in a male or female doctor, there would be no objection to visiting a doctor from the opposite gender."

He stressed that the issues mentioned in that session required special discussions. "I believe, such topics need to be discussed at length and in separate sessions," he said. "Thanks God, there are now specialized scientific and jurisprudential centers dealing with new issues. The government installations and institutions should refer to these scientific centers, cooperate with them and get their questions answered."