His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, has expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation for His Excellency the Minister of Health, as well as all the Ministry of Health (MOH) employees on the occasion of the success of the 1434H Hajj season; as there were no records of any epidemic nor infectious diseases. In a letter sent to His Excellency the Minister of Health, His Royal Highness said: “We would like to thank you for your kind feelings and supplications, praying for our Almighty Allah to grant you all success”.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, and the Ministry’s officials have expressed deepest gratitude to the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince and the Second Deputy Prime Minister- May Allah save them- for their immense efforts to serve the pilgrims and provide them with a healthy and safe atmosphere to perform Hajj rituals with ease.
In a letter sent to His Royal Highness, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah said: “It is my pleasure to let your majesty know that the field survey outcomes and health status study conducted on pilgrims, citizens and residents in the Holy Sites, Makkah and Madinah have shown that the 1434H Hajj Season was free from epidemic and infectious diseases; and that the medical status of pilgrims is generally reassuring – Praise be to Allah.
It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Health has offered distinguished medical services to pilgrims this year; as the total number of patients served in hospitals and health centres of the Holy Sites mounted to 1205880 patients, while 4015 patients were hospitalized. During this Hajj Season, many qualitative surgeries were performed, including 459 cardiac catheterization operations, 22 open-heart operations, 1624 dialysis sessions, and 106 binoculars operations. The childbirth cases reached 24 cases.
During the 1434H Hajj season, 22500 employees and health practitioners were honoured to serve pilgrims within a systematic, integrated and comprehensive health system. In addition, 25 hospitals, 141 health centres, and 175 ambulances for field medicine were fully equipped with the latest apparatuses in order to offer emergency, curative and preventative services and provide 24/7 healthcare services for pilgrims.
Moreover, special medical convoys have transferred 345 hospitalized patients from the hospitals in the Holy Sites and Madinah to Arafat, and sent them back to hospitals after performing the rituals.
Furthermore, the 90 medical teams working in the mini-ambulances, which serve as mobile intensive care units, have treated and transferred 16947 cases during this Hajj season in the Holy Sites.