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American Officials Praise Saudi Capability of Handling Hajj Crowds

24 November 2010

American health officials praised the Saudi capability of handling pilgrims' crowds, the yearly health procedures applied at the portals and its pursuit to assure a healthy and safe environment for them in order to perform Hajj.

HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Dr. Nicole Lurie, said that she is interested in viewing the Saudi authorities' comprehensive preparations for Hajj by applying the scientific methods and considering the needed health requirements in terms of vaccination and early diagnosing and treating patients including providing them with anti-viruses.

Dr. Lurie was interested in the Saudi authorities' capability in handling huge numbers of pilgrims in the same time due to its previous preparations for all situations. She clarified that the Saudi authorities didn't exaggerate when they paid attention to every single detail in these situations because it was applicable when needed.

Dr.David Mrkozy from The White House Department of Health said that two points have caught our attention regarding the Kingdom's Hajj plan; it's prospective in dealing with crowds and its concept, in addition to its implementations with in this prospective to have more control over Hajj huge crowds. This made the Kingdom a fun place with a safe environment according to the general health prospective.

Dr. Mrkozy, added that he discovered during the discussions headed by the Deputy of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Ziad Memish in the International Conference "Mass Gathering Impact on Public Health", held recently in Jeddah, that swine flu follow up last year 2009 had a great role in controlling a very dangerous health environment, which was unique because these procedures that were done at the portals didn’t allow the diseases to spread like an epidemic.

White House National Security Staff, Dr. Richard Hatchett stated that he was impressed while viewing some of the Hajj studies regarding mass crowds, the interventions made to control them and the continues interventions development to assure pilgrims safety.

Dr. Hatchett, also mentioned that it was both interesting and beneficial to know the Kingdom's experience and Ministries experiments including the Ministry of Health in preparing for Hajj and its mass crowds. Although they are used to annual events with huge crowds in the United States like conferences, sports, inauguration campaigns every 4 years, it all differs from Hajj season because it's an annual event.