The Ministry of Health (MOH) keeps on intensifying its preparations for this year's Hajj season. In this spirit, the Hajj Preparatory Committees held their 8th meeting yesterday (Sunday) at the MOH Headquarters, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Health for Human Capital Planning and Development, Dr. Emad bin Ali Al-Jahdali.
In this regard, the Supervisor-General of the Hajj and Umrah Services General Department, Dr. Hussein bin Abdullah Ghannam, explained that the meeting reviewed reports of workflow at the different Hajj committees, and preparations of the health facilities at Makkah and Madinah regions. Meanwhile, the participants in the meeting underlined the importance of subjecting all vehicle drivers working in the 1436-Hajj season to the stimulants and the illicit drug tests, within the framework of the program carried out by MOH at Makkah and Madinah regions, especially that all the websites have been linked to the ̔Awtar’ Program; an application for e-linking all the websites for entering all the drivers’ information. This in turn allows the Committee to follow up all the cases around the clock, as well as accelerating the sending of the results to the bodies concerned electronically, with the participation of Makkah Health Affairs General Directorate, represented by the Poison Control and Forensic Medicine Chemistry Center in Makkah, and Madinah Health Affairs General Directorate, represented by the Poison Control and Forensic Medicine Chemistry Center in Madinah, in collaboration with the drug control officials, Ministry of Hajj, the General Syndicate of Cars, and the superintendent of the pilgrims' transportation in Makkah region.
Within the same vein, the meeting also reviewed plans of operating health facilities in Makkah, the Holy Sites and the central area in Madinah (in the vicinity of the Prophet’s Mosque). In addition, the vital role undertaken by the Global Center for Mass Gathering Medicine during the Hajj season has been discussed. It is worth mentioning here that the World Health Organization (WHO) identified and recognized the Global Center for Mass Gathering Medicine as an accredited and cooperative center. Indeed, WHO is cooperating with the Kingdom to benefit from its accumulative experiences in mass gathering medicine and transfer it to other countries of across the world. Besides, the Kingdom is reckoned a pioneer reference in mass gathering medicine; due to its outstanding experiences in this regard, the matter which has been lauded by many international health organizations. Over and above, the Ministry has a one-year scientific training program in mass gathering medicine for Saudi diploma.
The meeting comes within MOH preparations for this year's Hajj season, with the aim of providing the best health services for the pilgrims.
It's to be noted here that the MOH prepared last year 25 hospitals with a total capacity of 5,000 beds, of which 500 beds were allocated for intensive care. It also operated health centers in Makkah and Madinah around the clock to offer 24/7 health services, in addition to health centers in the Holy Sites and seasonal centers on highways. Over and above, it provided 82 large, well-equipped ambulances to promote health services in Makkah and Madinah; that is to be added to other 100 small ambulances for field medicine; they were roaming over streets of Arafat and Mina for quick on-site treatment of cases, and transfer of other critical cases to health centers for hospitalization.