JEDDAH: More than 300 volunteers from the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) will help provide ambulatory services in Makkah, Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah during this year’s Hajj season.
Teams specially trained to deal with prevention and control issues related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will assist in raising awareness about health and safety precautionary measures put in place to prevent the spread of the virus among pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and other holy sites.
More than 2,000 medical items have been made available to the volunteer teams including an electronic paramedic app to alert them to emergency case reports sent by the SRCA operations center.
The authority’s general director of volunteering, Hanaa Al-Shamrani, said 25 ambulatory posts each manned by between three and five individuals had been set up inside the Grand Mosque and at nearby holy sites.
The stations would operate from Thursday with more than 80 volunteers supporting pilgrim movements in Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah.
Al-Shamrani noted that 60 percent of the volunteers were doctors, with the remainder including nursing and emergency medical workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and respiratory therapists.
