In compliance with the directives given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, May Allâh protect him, to provide the best medical services for the guest of Allâh, under the supervision of His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah, Mina Emergency Hospital proceeds to providing its ambulatory and specialized curative service for diseased pilgrims. The Surgery Section has witnessed the performance of various surgeries, ranging between simplicity and sophistication, on a number of pilgrims who have been taken to Arafat thereafter, by highly experienced and equipped medical convoys. Following is a survey shedding light on the surgeries performed, and patient's impressions.
At first, Dr. Randa Flimban, consultant of general and pediatric surgery and head of the hospital's Surgery Section, stated that the section has received several surgical cases and provided them the needed curative services since the onset of its operation on 8/12/1432H (4/11/2011). On the Day of Arafah (5/11/2011), she added, the hospital received a very rare and very critical case, which occurs only by 2%; that is the occurrence of enlarged and burst gall bladder for a pilgrim called Abdulhameed Abdulmajeed (Egyptian, 47).
The medical team, headed by Dr. Flimban, decided to put the surgical intervention off until after the Arafa Day, so as to enable the pilgrim to complete his hajj by transferring him to Arafat by the medical convoy assigned by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for this very reason. He was given the necessary antibiotics and pain-killers. “He was very likely to suffer from poisoning owing to the abscess burst, but he underwent a surgery in which both the gall bladder and abscess were eradicated, and right now, he is in good health, thank goodness,” Dr. Flimban explained.
She went on to say that another diabetic-foot surgery has been conducted on an Egyptian pilgrim, 48, suffering from gangrene. The amputation surgery was immediately performed, lest the disease should prevail through the other organs, given the patient suffers from the chronic diabetes.
Dr. Flimban said, “Most diabetics suffer from inflammation during Hajj, which adds much to their suffering.” According to her, this is due to their negligence of putting on the medical shoes designed for diabetics, as the normal shoes might rather double their suffering. She further explained that diabetics do not feel foot-pains, for two or three days, to the effect that severe complications could occur without taking the least notice. Medical shoes, Allâh willing, keep them away from such complications.
She added that an endoscopy surgery has been performed on a pilgrim suffering from permanent indigestion. Drugs did not make any difference, so he made up his mind to undergo the esophageal varices surgical endoscopy.
Among the surgeries recently performed on pilgrims, an appendix surgery was performed on an Egyptian pilgrim, and he has convalesced. Also, a fractures surgery was performed on a Sri Lankan pilgrim, aging 65 years old, after he had been transformed to the intensive care section, on having skull fractures and bruises in some of his body organs. There were also 6 fractures cases, caused by falling or traffic accidents. Some of these cases were transferred to Al-Noor Hospital so as to get their internal bones fixed.
Dr. Flimban made clear that all the cases received by Mina Emergency Hospital have been handled with an impressive professionality by the hospital's staff, which works around the clock.
For his part, Haj Abdulhameed Abduljawwad Musallam (Egyptian), said, “When I came along from Egypt to perform the Hajj rites, I was not suffering from any pains. A couple of days after my arrival to the Kingdom, I began to feel pains. Immediately, I headed for Mina Emergency Hospital, where the necessary medical tests have been conducted, and a surgery was recommended as a treatment of my enlarged liver. This surgery, however, was put off until after the Day of Arafah, as an ambulance took me back to the hospital.”
“The surgery was performed by an outstanding medical team,” Haj Abdulhameed added. “And after getting out of the operating room, I was offered all the services that accelerated my recovery, thank Allâh.” Meanwhile, he extended his sincere thanks and gratitude to the Kingdom's Wise Leadership, as well as the hospital's officers and the medical team who performed the surgery, affirming that the health services he was offered are “beyond excellence”.
Likewise, Haj Hatim Sa'd Salim (Sudani\American) said that he has received high-quality health services at Mina Emergency Hospital, after he had felt diabetic pains following the Day of Arafah, upon which he was transmitted the hospital, where he underwent a diabetic-foot surgery.
He added, “The health care I found here is by no means less the health care provided in the United States. Hereby, I would like to extend loftiest, deepest and most sincere thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, as well as the medical team who performed the surgery. It does not escape my notice, also, to thank the Ministry of Health for making every effort to retain pilgrims' health and safety.”
Atef Sabri Ahmed (Egyptian), for his part, expounded that he had undergone an amputation surgery before arriving to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, inasmuch as he was suffering from diabetes. However, severe pains inflicted him following the Day of Arafah. He had to go to the hospital, where he underwent the diabetic-foot surgery.
“The hospital's officials and medical team dealt with me in an impressively refined manner, what functioned like magic in relieving my pains.”