A friend once told me how he had to play doctor in the Grand Mosque in Makkah when a person near him suddenly fell sick. There were no paramedics and no mobile clinic nearby. Sad to say, the mosque lacks these vital services. My friend said while he was praying a man in front of him suddenly began shaking and screaming. A worshiper approached the sick man and began reciting verses from the Holy Qur’an. Thinking the sick man might be having an epileptic fit my friend began looking for help. There was no doctor anywhere near and all he could do was convince some cleaners to carry the sick man outside the mosque from where he could be taken to hospital.
Listening to the story, I recalled how a place like Disneyland, a recreational facility, looks after visitors’ safety and has mobile medical units roaming the facility to provide first aid on the spot. Trained paramedics with mobile phones, ready to respond to any emergency are seen everywhere. Within minutes, these professionals reach the sick to offer necessary help. The safety of everyone who happens to be inside Disneyland is regarded as a duty.
I write these words from inside the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site and the focal point for millions of Muslims. As the guardians of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of every visitor to these holy sites.
If a pilgrim or worshiper suddenly fell sick, what facilities are available to diagnose the problem and provide treatment? How could anyone tell if it was a stroke or a diabetes-related coma? How long would it take to respond and perhaps save the person’s life? Judging from what my friend told me, it seems that we can only expect the worst in such a situation. Is there a system in the Grand Mosque to respond to emergencies? If not, experts should be invited to study the situation and produce an effective and reliable solution. It is an irony that universities teach urban planning and development but offer no similar courses for such an important place as the Grand Mosque which obviously requires special treatment.
As a regular visitor to the Grand Mosque, I hope I will one day see highly-trained and fully-equipped paramedics and rescuers in special uniforms, among the pilgrims and worshipers, ready to respond to any emergency. If Disneyland is so careful of the safety of its visitors, then surely our responsibility as a nation which is honored to serve the holy sites is even greater.
Arab News From the Local Press 15 December 2002
