26,000 health officials deployed to serve Hajis

HEALTH CHECK: Paramedics check the health of arriving pilgrims at the Haj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Thursday. (SPA)

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health has fielded 26,000 of its officials to serve the guests of Allah during Haj, a senior official from the ministry said here Thursday.
“The officials include medical, administrative and technical teams from different regions of the Kingdom, and they have already occupied their respective positions,” he said.
The ministry is keen to attract specialized Saudi cadres from different parts of the Kingdom to participate in serving the pilgrims and reflect collective contribution of all citizens in this great effort, the official said.
During the past weeks, the ministry conducted more than 1,000 training courses on a daily basis at all its health facilities for its health and medical teams in the holy sites.
“The programs aimed at qualifying them to deal with diseases and understand the work mechanism and procedures followed in management of mass gathering and sorting of cases, besides intensifying preventive and treatment efforts,” he said.
The workshops included medical and health discussions about the latest developments in the overall health and medical aspects.
The ministry’s hospitals and health centers in Makkah and Madinah regions have received 12,433 pilgrims and provided them with all health services.
According to the medical records of the health facilities in the Makkah and Madinah regions, 86 pilgrims were admitted, 309 hospitalized, 96 dialysis were conducted, a heart surgery was performed on a patient in Madinah, 13 catheterization operations in Makkah and five in Madinah, 177 emergency cases in Makkah and 92 were handled in Madinah.
From Aug. 4 to Sept. 4, the hospitals and health centers in Makkah and Madinah regions received 202,723 pilgrims; 428 pilgrims were admitted, 1,005 underwent dialysis, while open heart surgeries were performed on 18 pilgrims while 210 cardiac catheterization operations were also performed.
The medical teams are supported with a fleet of 177 ambulances in the pilgrimage areas such as Makkah, Madinah, Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina.
“The fleet of ambulances include 120 mini ambulances and 57 large vehicles. They will be used to ferry sick Hajis from clinics to hospitals in the holy areas,” the official said,adding that that the fleet included 30 new mini ambulances, which were introduced last year.