“We praise Allah Almighty on the success of the concluding Haj season, and attribute its success to the care and directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and the dedication of the participants in their great Islamic duty toward the pilgrims,” the prince said, thanking all those responsible for a successful Haj season this year.
Prince Naif, who is also chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, encouraged the cooperation of all departments in the public sector for a successful Haj this year.
Acknowledging the appreciation of Prince Naif, Al-Rabeeah said the epidemic free Haj was solely due to the careful planning of the government under the leadership of King Abdullah, who was keen to look after the guests of Allah during the Haj season.
Reviewing the field reports from Makkah and Madinah, the minister said there were no signs of any epidemic diseases nor any other quarantine problems related to pilgrims.
During Haj, the Ministry of Health provided specialized services for the welfare of the guests of Allah. Besides 3,500 pilgrims making use of health services and facilities in the holy cities, a total of 538 cardiac catheterization and 25 open-heart surgeries were performed on pilgrims. More than 1,100 pilgrims made use of dialysis machines available at the hospitals and another 196 patients treated for gastro-intestinal problems. Around 450 pilgrims were treated for various problems at Mount Arafat.
Al-Rabeeah said health officials deemed it a prime duty to serve pilgrims in a fitting manner. He added that his ministry recruited more than 20,000 people from various medical, technical, administrative disciplines for the Haj season this year. He said manpower from the Kingdom and abroad stood at 441 people in rare medical disciplines including intensive care, breathing catheters and intensive care.
The Health Ministry took preventive measures against all epidemic diseases that were likely to be brought into the Kingdom by pilgrims. It deployed officials at all 14 ports of entry to monitor the health condition of pilgrims. One-hundred-and-seventy-five fully equipped ambulances were made available for pilgrims.
Ministry officials at the ports of entry gave preventive doses against meningitis to 365,777 pilgrims, oral polio vaccines to 532,400 pilgrims and yellow fever vaccines to 200,000 pilgrims.
Twenty-four hospitals and 141 primary health care centers with a total of 4,000 beds attended to the pilgrims’ health needs. Besides these facilities, there were 450 beds in the hospitals’ intensive care units and 500 more beds made available for emergencies.
Of the primary health care centers, 80 were in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah. They included 28 in Mina, 46 in Arafat and six in Muzdalifah. Besides these clinics, the minister said, there were seven hospitals — three in Arafat and four in Mina.
This year, the minister said health officials in the holy city of Madinah were increased to ensure uninterrupted health services to the pilgrims who visited the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. The health facilities and services in the holy cities were modernized according to WHO standards at an expense of SR50 million this year, the minister said.
