MADINA: Madina's Health Affairs Department said Saturday that the city's healthcare services, including hospitals and other medical facilities, have so far treated 83,637 pilgrims. There have been 737 pilgrims hospitalized, while 21 pilgrims have undergone surgery, said Abdul Razzaq Bin Abdul Aziz Hafez, Director of Public Relations and Information at Madina Health Affairs Department. Hafez said medical establishments in the city have been provided with all medical requirements, devices and medications, medical and technical cadres and managing staff tasked with offering the best and quickest preventative, diagnostic, curative, first aid and awareness services to pilgrims. Hafez added that 22 government medical facilities located on roads and areas within the region of Madina, through which pilgrims arrive and depart, have been put on alert. Seasonal healthcare centers inside the Central Zone have also been prepared to receive large numbers of people daily, he said. Meanwhile, the city's Haj-related bodies have a plan in place to ensure the movement of more than 12,000 buses, carrying about half a million pilgrims of different nationalities, to Makkah and the holy sites. On Sunday, the Coordination and Follow-Up Unit of the Haj Committee Secretariat held a meeting to coordinate the reception of an estimated 100,000 pilgrims at Al-Hijra Station (at the Al-Hijra entry point to Madina). The Housing Department of the Ministry of Haj will be responsible for organizing pilgrims' housing groups at the station.
