Our Vision: The Moral Code

The Moral Code is a project initiated by the Muslim Healthcare Student Network (MHSN) which aims to create a known source of guidance for Islamic medical ethics in the UK. The project aims to codify the spectrum of current Muslim opinion on various healthcare practices, and disseminate this work to users and providers of healthcare.

With support from companies like Quality Internet Solutions and various other organisations, the MHSN strives forward, helping those who need help and clarity on Health Related issues.

In the short term, we hope to provide focussed guidance on Islamic medical ethics for students and young professionals. This will involve research on 13 broad topics and a close collaboration with Muslim scholars and various health experts. Once these issues are addressed we will widen our scope to directly support patients, senior professionals and policy makers on issues of Islamic medical ethics. We hope to build a network and platform for professionals and thinkers to meaningfully discuss Islamic medical ethics within a British context.

Why have we established ‘The Moral Code’?

Islamic medical ethics is a discipline that addresses healthcare and research ethics from an Islamic perspective. It draws on the rich intellectual history of Islam to reflect on questions of personal and professional conduct within healthcare settings, and is central to establishing trust and good communication between patients and healthcare professionals.

The need for focussed, specialist guidance on Islamic medical ethics is widespread, particularly amongst students and young healthcare professionals. Complex ethical questions are quite regularly asked and as of yet no such guidance is readily available on these issues. The Moral Code hopes to provide such guidance and thereby improve the quality of patient care within the UK health service.

The ethos that underpins our approach is to put the patient at the centre of our work. We recognise every individual’s personal life choices and beliefs and affirm that no patient should find themselves discriminated against because of their carer’s personal beliefs. We also recognise that religious and cultural values shape the lives of many healthcare professionals and that they often help them cope with the stresses associated with patient care.