Abu Dhabi nurse charged with proselytization

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nurse-tray1A Filipina nurse refused to give patients medicine and instead urged them to pray to Jesus to cure them, the Criminal Court heard Tuesday.

She was charged with proselytising Christianity after patients complained about her actions.

The first witness, a co-worker of the defendant, said: “As soon as I started working for the surgery section in the hospital where the defendant worked, she started preaching Christianity to me, saying it was the righteous religion.

“When I defended my own religion she refused to listen and repeated what she was saying. I tried to debate with her for more than an hour but without a result.”

She added that the defendant had tried to convert other staff members and patients.

“She once gave a copy of the Bible to a Muslim patient and he was very annoyed and returned it to the section head,” said the co-worker.

“But she did not take any stringent measures against her, just warned her.”

A second nurse, who joined the hospital in 2008, said the defendant preached Christianity to almost everyone she spoke to, patients, doctors and nurses.

“She did indeed try it with me once when I was with her on night duty and she asked me to read the Bible,” the nurse said.

On one occasion, a patient was refused medicine by the defendant and began screaming for help.

“I rushed into his room and was surprised with what I heard,” the nurse said.

“He then filed a complaint against her at the legal affairs section at the hospital and requested she never attend to him again.”

The third witness, the hospital’s legal affairs representative, said he received a written complaint from one of the patients and the hospital immediately investigated the issue, sacked the nurse and referred her to the police.

A verdict is scheduled to be announced on May 21. The National

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