Religion and faith throwing an unexpected challenge in wilderness.

[Burjor Langdana]

Out on an expedition in the middle of no where. Patient gets dental abscess. You immediately offer the Amoxicillin capsules . She declines . Stating that her religion forbids her to consume capsules containing gelatine . Gelatine that could be porcine. We recently had a similar situation. To resolve this I consulted my learned Muslim friends. I was forwarded this excellent pdf. The important bit is at the end of this pdf. I hope this helps you through as it did us .

• This topic was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Burjor Langdana.

[Burjor Langdana]

PDF link to the article mentioned above;

[Nick F]

PDF mentioned above: http://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/animal_products_in_medicines_-_guidance_for_muslims_-_mar_12.pdf

[Dr Will Duffin]

Real prescribing challenge this Burjor! Thanks for illustrating the value of cultural competence which applies equally overseas and at home. I’ve had this query before as a GP and found myself sifting through the specific product characteristics of different preprations of amoxicillin to find something with no porcine components – it can be tricky! We have a large Muslim, Afrocarribean and Somali communities in Bristol which makes the work very culturally rich. Ramadan is an interesting time – tweaking patients diabetes management while they are fasting, even tricker when you’re dealing with a complicated insulin regimen via an interpreter! I’ve found this article a useful resource: https://www.prescriber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2016/12/Prescribing-religion-KLWEB.pdf. It would be great to hear other clincian’s experiences on this thread?

[Pavandeep Singh Sandhu]

That’s interesting and useful! So for Muslim patients we can discuss the concept of Istihaalah? And say that whilst the capsule contains gelatine, it has gone through processing which no longer makes it ‘impure’?

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