Response:

Stoma care should address the special needs of the patient, including both health care needs and cultural and social factors in the patient's society. In this context, we appreciate the observations made by Mr Fareed Iqbal and colleagues. Comparatively few Muslims live in Japan1 and our experience with stoma care in Muslim patients is limited. However, procedures for stoma site marking and stoma location should respect the patient's cultural sensitivities.

Hiromi Nakagawa

Reference