King lauds health minister over epidemic-free Haj

Riyadh, NU Online
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah commended on Saturday Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah and his team of health officials for their untiring efforts in maintaining a Haj season free of epidemic diseases.

The king said the excellent health facilities and services provided by the Ministry of Health enabled the pilgrims to perform their Haj rituals with ease and comfort and free of major health issues.

Responding to the commendation, Al-Rabeeah thanked the king for the support and assistance given to the ministry to complete this season without any epidemic diseases and other quarantine problems in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

During Haj, the Ministry of Health provided specialized services for the welfare of the guests of Allah. Besides 3,500 pilgrims making use of the health services and facilities in the holy cities, a total of 538 cardiac catheterization and 25 open-heart surgeries were performed on pilgrims.

The ministry deployed more than 20,000 people from various medical, technical, administrative categories for the Haj season this year. He said the manpower from the Kingdom and abroad stood at 441 people in rare medical disciplines, including intensive care, breathing catheter and treatment as well as nursing intensive care and emergencies.

The Health Ministry took preventive measures against all epidemic diseases that were likely to be brought into the Kingdom by the pilgrims. It deployed officials at all 14 ports of entry to monitor the health condition of pilgrims, who came for Haj. Fully equipped 175 ambulances were made available for the health services for the pilgrims.

The ministry officials at the ports of entry gave preventive doses against meningitis to 365,777 pilgrims, oral polio vaccines to 532,400 pilgrims and yellow fever vaccines to 200,000 pilgrims.

Twenty-four hospitals and 141 primary health-care centers with a total of 4,000 beds were ready to attend to the pilgrims' health needs. Besides these facilities, there were 450 beds in the intensive care units of these hospitals and 500 more beds were made available for emergencies.

Of the PHCs, 80 primary health-care centers were in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah. They included 28 in Mina, 46 in Arafat and six in Muzdalifah. Besides these clinics, the minister said, there were seven hospitals — three in Arafat and four in Mina.

The minister said health officials in the holy city of Madinah were increased to ensure uninterrupted health services to the pilgrims who visited the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. The health facilities and services in the holy cities were modernized according to WHO standards at an expense of SR50 million this year, the minister said. (an/dar)