There has been a 12 percent increase in the number of nurses at this year's Haj compared to last year, the Ministry of Health revealed recently.

There were 1,887 this year compared to 1,657 last year. "These female nurses were mainly recruited to help female pilgrims, who account for a large percentage of pilgrims every year," said Munira Al-Osaimi, the assistant deputy health minister, and head of the ministry's laboratories, nursing, and nutrition committee at the Haj.

She said these nurses, and their male colleagues, had to undergo intensive training on how to deal with pilgrims, including taking courses in English, French, Urdu and other languages.

The nurses joined the ministry at the holy sites despite concerns over infectious diseases such as Ebola and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

Most of them will be serving at health care facilities in Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah, until the end of the season. This falls on about Nov. 7 this year, when the last pilgrims are supposed to leave the Kingdom.

Some of the nurses told Arab News that they were not worried about getting infected by Ebola or MERS. They said their faith in Allah as the ultimate protector, and training, had helped them deal with their fears.

Salma Bukhari, a nurse from Jeddah, said she served at the holy sites for the first time this year after having seen many of her colleagues do so over the past few years. She said that the possibility of being infected with a dangerous disease did not deter her.

Reem Al-Tuaimi, another nurse, said that she participated to get the honor of serving the guests of Allah and to gain experience. She also said that worries about Ebola and MERS did not discourage her from working at the holy site