MADINAH — A total of 32 women will be employed as passport processing clerks at the new Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport for the first time in Madinah, the Arabic daily Al-Watan reported. Madinah Passport Department official spokesman Col. Hisham Al-Radadi said previously, women were only responsible for verifying the photos of female passengers but now they are expected to validate passengers' passports, visas and their fingerprints. “The department employed 23 women under military positions and nine under civil services positions. We provided training on the department's database and software. They were also trained on using and understanding Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems” said Col. Al-Radadi. He added the women will be assigned to verification counters in the arrival and departure sections of the airport. “They will even be authorized to stamp passports for exits and re-entries. They will also be working in the expatriates department to ensure that female expatriates have their medical insurance cards and are picked up by their sponsors,” he said. Col. Al-Radadi said both male and female employees are equally important for the development of the airport's services. “We need to expose our employees to the work environment at the airport to better understand the problems they face and work on solving them,” he added. Muhra Al-Ghurabi, an employee at the airport, said the department offers them a variety of workshops and training sessions on the different skills required for their job. “I attended a training session on passenger supervision, registering a candidate into the system, automated Passport Department system and e-passports,” said Al-Ghurabi. Budour Al-Mutairy, another employee, said she has learned a lot about paperwork and passport forgery. “I learned the common tricks used by fraudsters out there and how they spray their photos with water or perfume so it does not scan properly. Adding more staff to the airport will expedite the whole process and hopefully improve our services,” said Al-Mutairy.
