Manama: Kuwaiti police are investigating an Arab expatriate working in a pharmacy after a woman reported that he felt her with his hands while trying to diagnose her physical condition.
The woman reportedly walked into the pharmacy and wanted the pharmacist to help her buy the right medicine to improve her condition and cure her from the coughing that caused her pain and suffering.
However, the pharmacist told her that he could not recommend any form of medicine until he diagnosed her case thoroughly and made sure she was administered the right treatment, Kuwaiti daily Al Watan reported on Tuesday.
She was eventually convinced and she entered the treatment room at the back of the pharmacy where he initially brought a stethoscope for the examination. However, he kept it aside and decided to touch the woman with his hands, claiming that it would help him in his diagnosis.
The woman understood there was something wrong with the “doctor” and asked him to leave her alone. However, he refused to let her go and she started screaming at him, forcing him to move away from her.
She eventually went to the police station to lodge a formal complaint against him for sexual harassment.
Online users harshly criticised the pharmacist for his “evil” intention and called for stringent legal action against him for abusing his position and breaching people’s trust.
However, some of the users said that the incident demonstrated the “dangers” that the expatriate community could pose if there is no strong monitoring of their attitudes.
Another group of users blamed the woman for being “so gullible” and wondered how she could believe that a pharmacist could diagnose a patient and prescribe medical treatment. They said that she should have understood his intentions when he put aside the stethoscope and urged women to be more cautious in dealing with men they did not know.
“Any woman who accepts to have a pharmacist examine her medically or a tailor take her measurements is truly naïve,” Abu Khalid, a blogger, said. “They should honestly learn from the terrible experiences that other women go through when they are too credulous,” he said.
