Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Health Minister Khaled Al-Falih said 25 hospitals with a combined capacity of about 5,000 beds have been prepared for pilgrims in Makkah, Madinah and the holy sites. The minister chaired a meeting on Monday of the Haj medical committee in Madinah and toured a number of hospitals there. Al-Falih said the ministry has deployed all its human and material resources to provide excellent medical services to pilgrims. The health monitoring centers at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah have started receiving pilgrims coming to the Kingdom for Haj. Al-Falih visited the facilities on Monday and vaccinated some pilgrims who had arrived from Pakistan. The Health Affairs in Jeddah said the centers were equipped with most modern tools and well-trained medical staff. Abdul Ghani Al-Malki, head of health monitoring at KAIA, said they focus on a number of tasks during the Haj season. He said the centers are responsible for implementing precautionary measures against the spread of contagious diseases by monitoring the health status of each pilgrim arriving at the airport. He said the regulations apply to all arriving pilgrims, but the health workers pay special attention to people coming from some disease-prone countries listed by World Health Organization. High rates of yellow fever and meningitis have been documented among pilgrims arriving from these countries in the past and therefore it has been made mandatory that they produce health certificates indicating that they have taken necessary vaccines at least 10 days prior to their departure from home. Aircraft carrying the pilgrims have to provide proof to show that have been fumigated to kill disease-spreading insects such as mosquitoes. Pilgrims coming from other regions of the Kingdom have also been told to take vaccines specified by the Ministry of Health. According to Al-Malki, the health monitoring centers at KAIA had served over 800,000 pilgrims last year. In addition to giving vaccines, the centers treated emergency cases inside the terminals with necessary medication and tests. A number of critical cases were transferred to various government hospitals in Jeddah. The centers also helped increase health awareness among pilgrims by distributing illustrated booklets and leaflets in various languages. Meanwhile, the Administrative Court in Makkah rejected an urgent appeal by a number of local Haj service providers to cancel recent decisions by the Haj Ministry obliging them to use Freon air conditioners in Mina and to serve turkey as a main dish at dinners for pilgrims. The court decided to convene on Sept. 16 to re-examine the case.
