Patricia Hewitt's comments about Muslim GPs breaching confidentiality are to be condemned.

While the Department of Health is busily covering Ms Hewitt's back by clarifying the exact nature of her comments, namely that she did not actually say that some Muslim GPs were breaching patient confidentiality but rather simply implied it by stating that some Muslim women fear their Muslim GP will disclose information, the end result is still the same. In her decision to separate out Muslim GPs as a special case in a problem that is actually prevalent across the board where GPs are concerned, she has pointed the finger of suspicion at all Muslim male GPs thus undermining their credibility.

A quick glance across the blog sites and comments on articles that have detailed this issue reveal that there are a wide range of people, whether white, Asian, African or any other racial group, who have experienced a breach of confidentiality where medical issues are concerned. In one case, the cleaner at a GP surgery was the one to leak what she had heard. What does this mean? Clearly the BMA needs to be made aware of this serious problem and Ms Hewitt, as health secretary, should have known better the course of action required in order to properly serve the interests of the Muslim women she mentions.

Ms Hewitt's statements were irresponsible and furthermore, with clear ignorance, she went on to conclude that Muslims are "a close-knit community", simply adding insult to injury. Muslims are not one community; they are a series of communities. To suggest that there is only one community is ludicrous given the extent of the differences between Muslims in Britain.

Perhaps it was too good an opportunity for Ms Hewitt to miss; after all, none of her Commons' peers have been clever enough to reveal this "failing" in the Muslim "community". Of course, such an attitude would mean I was engulfed in the Islamaphobia victimhood mentality. But I really struggle to find another more respectable reason why Muslims are being targeted as the only culprits of a problem that can be identified in every town and city in the country. If "Muslim women" and "Muslim GPs" were substituted with "Jewish women" and "Jewish GPs", there would be cries of anti-semitism. If "Sikh women" and "Sikh GPs" were the targets, there would be cries of racism. However, the fact that Muslims are in question seems to somehow be respectable.

Of course there are cases of breaches of trust and of course dealing with these requires the utmost severity. Of course some of these cases will involve Muslim GPs. However, they will also, without a shadow of a doubt, affect GPs of every other race, religion and colour. What is sad is that in order to exonerate Muslim male GPs, there will need to be some form of statistical analysis. However, the accusations have already been levelled, and where enough mud is slung some is bound to stick - so the damage is likely to have been irreversibly done.

As the wife of a trainee GP, I take personal offence at Ms Hewitt's comments. My husband has spent years studying to gain extra qualifications so that he can be the best at what he does - as have other trainee GPs, with no distinction between race, religion or colour. However, Ms Hewitt has undermined all his hard work, and that of other Muslim male doctors by planting seeds of doubt in people's minds regarding their professional integrity. This is an appalling breach of her office and deserves a response from any union of Muslim doctors.

This article first appeared on Comment is Free.