The Ministry of Health (MOH) keeps on accelerating its preparations for this year's Hajj season. In this spirit, the Hajj Preparatory Committees held their 12th meeting yesterday (Monday) at the MOH Headquarters, in the presence of all heads of Hajj preparatory committees and the central committees in Makkah and Madinah.
The meeting was begun with a brief account of the workflow at the different Hajj committees, presented by the Supervisor-General of the Hajj and Umrah Services General Department, Dr. Hussein bin Abdullah Ghannam. In addition, the meeting reviewed reports of efforts aiming at controlling infectious diseases in Hajj.
Meanwhile, MOH Spokesperson, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Marghlani, explained that the meeting has assured completion of all preparations relevant to treatment of sunstroke and heat exhaustion at all MOH facilities in the Holy Sites, including 8 hospitals: 4 in Arafat and 4 in Mina. In addition, the Acting Chairman of the Hospitals Supervisory Committee, Dr. Saeed Al-Ghamdi, presented the policies and protocols adopted for the treatment of cases of heat exhaustion and sunstroke as high temperatures are expected in the Holy Sites this year.
Within the same vein, Dr, Rafaat Al-Hakeem put forward a comprehensive overview of the methods embraced to deal with the infectious diseases in the Hajj, and the package of the policies and procedures adopted to control infectious diseases, according to the international standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the globally eminent consulting firms, as well as the training programs, workshops, awareness activities directed to the health professionals to boost their adoption of such protocols.
Likewise, Dr. Marghlani added that the meeting reviewed the plans set for operating health facilities in Makkah, the Holy Sites and the central area in Madinah (the vicinity of the Prophet’s Mosque).
In a similar fashion, Dr. Marghlani said that the meeting also discussed preparations, integration of health services, and the services provided by the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the pilgrims at the land, sea and air entry ports, where consultants of emergency medicine, infection control and intensive care will be hired. He added that all plans and programs presented by Hajj committees were reviewed, in addition to the media plan for covering of the MOH's activities and services during Hajj.
The meeting comes as part of the MOH preparations for this year's Hajj season, with the aim of providing the best health services for the pilgrims.