The Ministry of Health (MOH) has organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Hajj a workshop for the employees of the Tawafa (pilgrim guide) establishments participating in this year’s Hajj season. Officials from the two ministries attended the event. The workshop aimed at boosting means of communication between Tawafa establishments and MOH facilities.
This was announced by the MOH Spokesman and its Supervisor General of Relations, Media and Health Awareness, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Marghalani.
He added that a number of awareness programs were tackled during the workshop explaining the MOH’s role in dealing with crises and cases suspected of having infectious or epidemic diseases during Hajj.
The spokesperson explained, “At the beginning of the meeting, the Director General of the Ministry of Hajj’s branch in the region, Dr. Ameen Fatani, presented a lecture on the objectives of the workshop. Afterwards, the Vice Chairman of the Command and Control Center, Dr. Anees Sindi, delivered a lecture on the role of the center which was recently launched by MOH and the mechanism of services it provides for the pilgrims, particularly in the emergency cases, in addition to the role of the Emergence Center, the 937 service and health awareness programs provided in all languages for pilgrims.
He pointed out that the MOH has recruited a large number of preventive teams which continuously visit Tawafa organizations in order to achieve their objectives, lauding the scope of cooperation and support between the two ministries and leaders and officials of Tawafa organizations.
On his part, the Director of Infectious Diseases at Makkah Health Affairs General Directorate, Dr. Mohamed Halwani, presented a lecture on the mechanism adopted to control and protect pilgrims against viruses, particularly in the mass gatherings.
Within the same vein, the Assistant Director General of Preventive Medicine at Makkah Health Affairs General Directorate and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Preventive Medicine, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Turkistani, said that MOH has provided the Tawafa organizations with a number of special vaccines to be given to pilgrims. He said the role of these organizations in reporting about cases was highlighted. “To that end, the Health Affairs Directorate has designated telephone and fax numbers to be used in this regard,” Dr. Turkistani elaborated, concluding that the Tawafa organizations were briefed also on ways to determine locations of the pilgrims suspected of having diseases so as to be placed in special areas. This is to help MOH preventive teams to reach them and make the necessary medical check-ups to define whether they are affected by diseases or not.