A report from the center said more than 60 medical missions come every Haj season.
The missions, however, coordinate and consult with Saudi medical authorities to provide health services to their pilgrims.
The report said the Haj medical missions coming from abroad only treat minor cases such as colds and flu and followup cases of diabetes and hypertension.
A number of pilgrims told Arab News that they had never dealt with their countries' medical missions. Some of them said they had no idea such missions existed.
The pilgrims attributed the small or non-existent role of the foreign Haj medical missions to the fact that most of them were located in Makkah and Madinah with the official Haj missions, away from the pilgrims’ accommodation.
“I heard that we had a medical mission but I never visited them despite my poor health,” said Shawki Allam, an Egyptian pilgrim. “I did not know the location of the mission,” he added.
Abdul Rahmane Bouzarawah, an Algerian pilgrim, said he went once to his country's medical mission but only found very few doctors. “The clinic was poorly equipped. I had to go to a Saudi hospital for treatment,” he said.
Abd Rab Al-Nabi Ayoub, a Pakistani pilgrim, said he took his sick wife to a Saudi health center because it was near his residence in the Reea Bakhsh district of Makkah. “The services provided by our medical mission were very little and it is not equipped to treat serious and critical conditions,” he added.
Heads of Arab and Islamic medical missions did not deny that their resources were limited and that they were unable to cover the medical needs of their pilgrims. They said they always referred their patients to the Saudi hospitals in Makkah, Madinah and the holy sites because they were better equipped and manned.
Head of the Tunisian medical mission Dr. Muhammad Al-Sousi, who is also head of the surgical section at the military hospital in Tunis, said the Saudi medical facilities were of international standards. He said he led his country's medical missions six times and every time he was astonished by the development in the Saudi hospitals and health centers.
“The Saudi medical services are top class and every pilgrim is entitled to these excellent services from the time of his arrival in the Kingdom until his departure back home,” Al-Sousi said.
The Tunisian surgeon commended the role played by the Saudi Red Crescent and said they have a fleet of modern and well-equipped ambulance cars in addition to well-trained paramedics.
“The large number of medical facilities manned by specialist doctors, nurses and technicians is proof of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s government’s concern of the pilgrims’ health,” he said.
Head of the Turkish medical mission Dr. Elias Seerinly lauded the close cooperation between the Saudi heath authorities and the foreign Haj medical missions. He said the Saudi hospitals would readily accept any critical case referred to them. “I was happy that the Saudi medical cadres were not only professionally competent but they could also communicate in various languages,” he said.
A member of the Malaysian medical mission, who did not want his name to be published, described the medical services in Saudi Arabia as excellent and said the procedures of admitting sick pilgrims to hospitals were very simple.