The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, May Allah protect him, has extended his thanks and appreciation to His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, as well as the Ministry of Health (MOH) staff, on the terrific success of the 1432-Hajj season, and declaring it entirely free from epidemic and endemic diseases.
In his message to Dr. Al-Rabeeah, King Abdullah was quoted as saying, “Thanks be to Allah for having bestowed upon us the honor of serving His 'guests'. Meanwhile, I would like to thank you, and the MOH staff involved in this Hajj season, for your kind words and sincere feelings, and for the colossal efforts you exerted in the provision of health services for pilgrims. I pray for Allah Almighty to help and guide us to accomplish all that is important for pilgrims, so that they perform the Hajj rites safely and easily. Also, I pray for Him to make all our deeds entirely free of ostentation. He listens and responds.”
It is worth mentioning that His Excellency Dr. Al-Rabeeah had dispatched a message to His Royal Highness King Abdullah, in which he extended his deepest, loftiest and most sincere greetings and congratulations on the occasion of the strikingly successful Hajj season, evidently manifested in the pilgrims' safe and easy performance of the Hajj rites, and preserving their health and well-being, as well as being completely free of epidemic and endemic diseases.
In his message to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Minister of Health said, “It is a pleasure for me to let your Royal Highness know that the results of the field survey and study of the health status of pilgrims, as well as citizens and residents of the Holy Places in Makkah and Madinah, have shown that the 1432-Hajj season has been free from epidemic and endemic diseases, and that the health status of pilgrims is generally satisfactory – thank goodness!”
Dr. Al-Rabeeah added, “It does not escape my notice, on this occasion, to affirm that such a sparkling achievement would not have been possible without the help and guidance of Allah in the first place, and then the endless and limitless support of your Royal Highness, in addition to the colossal efforts exerted by our Wise Leadership for the sake of the 'guests of Allah', which played the most significant role in making a success of this year's Hajj plan – Thanks be to Allah!”
“I am also honored,” Dr. Al-Rabeeah continued, “to commend the great services provided by our prudent government, under your Wise Leadership, for pilgrims in all fields, at the head of which is the Health field. Such services played the greater role in reducing accidents and preserving pilgrims' health and safety.”
It should be note, in this respect, that the Ministry of Health has provided high-quality medical specialized services, especially at the fourth level, in the course of 1432-Hajj season. More than 538 cardiac catheterization operations and 25 open-heart operations have been performed, as well as 3500 in-place treatment cases thanks to the field medicine teams operating over 175 highly equipped ambulances, big and small. In addition, 1130 dialysis sessions and 196 interventional endoscopy surgeries have been performed.
Furthermore, the Ministry has run medical convoys from the hospitals of Jeddah, Madinah, Makkah, and the Holy Places with the aim to transmit more than 415 inpatients to Arafat. In addition, the Ministry has equipped 24 hospitals and 141 health centers, with a total capacity of 4000 beds, 450 intensive care beds and 500 emergency beds, enlisting over 200.000 employees for this very purpose.
As for vaccination, a number of 365.777 pilgrims have been vaccinated against meningitis, 532.400 pilgrims have been given the polio oral vaccine, and 200.000 pilgrims have been vaccinated against yellow fever. So far, a number of 510.111 pilgrims have resorted to health centers, whereas the number of those who headed for the emergency clinics at hospitals is 35.610 pilgrims. This was substantially reflected in the mortality rate amongst pilgrims, as it has declined by 30 per cent in comparison with last year.
On a related matter, the World Health Organization (WHO) has lauded the extraordinary level of medical equipment and health care that is provided by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for pilgrims during the Hajj season for the year 1432H.
WHO pointed out that the Ministry has provided highly qualified and trained medical teams to help pilgrims to be familiarized with the Hajj environment, in addition to providing scientific evidences and medical protocols that are based on the latest scientific data in all areas. WHO added, MOH has provided hospitals with the latest medical equipment, sufficient quantities of medicines, and well-equipped ambulances for rapid response.
The organization said, it had checked with full transparency on the health coverage of the Hajj season, noting that it saw on the ground, good plans, advanced medical equipment in hospitals, and advanced ambulances.
The Organization has also commended the qualified national staff deployed by the Ministry of Health to serve the pilgrims around the clock, using the latest communication technologies, including the use of digital maps in all hospitals to locate health facilities, distribution of personnel and determination of under-serviced areas in health planning and programming.
The WHO, in addition, has acclaimed the high-tech medical equipment and highly qualified staff supporting these health facilities, stating that the experiences acquired by the Ministry over the past have left it with great expertise in the field of Mass Gathering Medicine, incomparable in the whole world.