JEDDAH: A joint meeting of the Directorate of Health Affairs in Jeddah and the General Administration for Education in Makkah province decided to bring all schools in the city under the purview of the nearest primary health care centers so that the centers can supervise the swine flu situation in each school closely and regularly.

A special plan to handle swine flu cases among students when schools reopen on Oct. 3, was the major topic discussed in the meeting.

Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah Sami bin Muhammad Badawood, Assistant Director of Health Affairs Nuha Dashash, Director General of Education in Makkah province Abdullah Al-Thaqfi and Assistant Director General for Girls’ Education Abdul Kareem Al-Hoqail attended the meeting at the Health Ministry’s office in Jeddah on Wednesday night.

The special plan includes training for school doctors and health workers on how to handle suspicious and sure cases detected among students.

The meeting also agreed to set up a panel of doctors to hold a series of lectures and distribution of CDs on the flu for the benefit of school health workers so that they become skilled in spotting the disease among students. The recommendations included allocation of an isolated room for keeping suspected cases of H1N1 infection. These rooms should be away from locations where healthy students frequent.

The other recommendations include the appointing of coordinators of the health and education departments to supervise the health levels in schools. The coordinators will also have the authority to decide if a school should be closed or not in the event of the number of flu cases in a school exceeds the normal level.

Saudi Arabia has decided not to postpone the reopening of schools after the Eid holidays.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that all the 237 Umrah pilgrims, including 21 foreigners, reported to have suffered from the swine flu in Makkah and Madinah since the beginning of Ramadan on Aug.22 have recovered.

They were all treated successfully either as in patients or at their residences, the report said.

The Ajyad hospital in Makkah has been renovated and equipped with advanced facilities to treat emergency cases of pilgrims.

Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said his ministry has set up six health centers in four main locations inside the Grand Mosque and close to the mataf (the courtyard where pilgrims circumambulate) and masaa (the space for ritual running between Safa and Marwah), according to the Saudi Press Agency.

These centers are situated near the King Fahd Gate, upper and ground floors of the Ajyad Gate, Umrah Gate and Al-Fath Gate and Nadwa Gate.

The minister urged all medical staff and paramedics to work round the clock during the remaining days of the holy month to serve the large number of pilgrims, whose numbers are expected to grow in next few days.

The minister also appealed to all people to follow the health instruction issued by the ministry to keep them free from the flu.