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As the adolescent girl underwent gynecological surgery at a western Canadian hospital, a doctor stood by to perform an unusual function.

The physician was there, according to a source familiar with the incident, to sign a certificate verifying she remained a virgin — and was still marriageable in her immigrant community.

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It was a stark example of an increasing preoccupation for Canada’s health-care system: accommodating the sometimes unorthodox needs of ethnic and religious minorities in an ever-more multicultural society.

Hospitals grapple with requests for doctors of a specific sex or race; sometimes they disconnect fire alarms to allow sweetgrass burning, prolong life support for religious reasons and host clinics to treat fasting diabetics at Ramadan.

The gestures stem not only from the country’s growing diversity, but a generally more patient-focused system — and a recognition that treating solely physical ailments is not always enough.