The Ministry of Health (MOH) has launched a command and control room at Mina Emergency Hospital to monitor health indicators, early warning and follow up strategic decisions through an advanced information and communication network.
The room, which is reckoned the main information platform during Hajj, follows up health condition of pilgrims around the clock through business intelligence platforms that derive data automatically from various electronic health systems such as hospitals system and healthcare centers in the holy sites, in hospitals, holy Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Taif. Data is also derived through central systems such as the control system for the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases, immunizations and referral system, and workforce and medical supply in Hajj, where vacant beds are displayed instantly at each facility, and then decisions are made to redistribute inpatients tactically or as needed. Also, the room monitors the extent of overcrowding and waiting rates at clinics and emergencies, and follows up disease types, health problems and health indicators and their distribution at the holy sites in order to anticipate any early health warning that requires intervention. In addition, it includes large screens operating around the clock by qualified Saudi staff, to display status of hospitals, ambulances movement, medical evacuation landing sites, as well as monitoring and following up many platforms and indicators.
The room is connected to MOH’s Command and Control Center (CCC), which communicates with world organizations to ensure full preparations and prompt response to public health threats with the highest efficiency.
The CCC interfaces between various stakeholders: it oversees the health sectors’ preparedness to confront public health threats and leads health surveillance to handle these threats. It also assesses and handles threats before and during their occurrence. Such function mainly includes:
First: preparedness, as it contributes to minimizing the likelihood of a health crisis (diseases) through prevention measures, improving medical infrastructure, training required staff, mobilizing necessary resources, developing work plans to contain a possible crisis, simulation training on action plans to confront the threats.
Second: epidemic surveillance to monitor potential threats, and the readiness of health affairs in the region and all its medical facilities.
Third: rapid response, leading the rapid response to public health threats and coordinates with stakeholders in this respect, developing crisis-specific action plans and monitoring all crisis repose activities.
An electronic medical system has been applied in the holy sites hospitals and healthcare centers to document pilgrim’s data in integration with the Ministry of Hajj and the National Information Center when registering the pilgrim at a health facility in the holy sites. Also, command and control room automatically tracks more than 260 ambulances in Makkah, the holy sites area and Madinah. The ambulances can be guided individually or as group to the accident site and as needed. Also, the room monitors convoys transporting pilgrims from Madinah’s hospitals to Arafat hospitals and between Mina and Arafat hospitals.