Daily Times

Amid scorching heat with maximum temperature touching 45 C, more than 500 pilgrims have suffered from heat exhaustion while performing their Hajj but thanks to relevant health authorities for providing them quick treatment.

Of the total, around 400 pilgrims with worse health conditions were given support to join the health convoy that took them to stay in Arafat, which is inevitable for fulfillment of Hajj.

In a media interaction, a Spokesman of Health Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Al-Abdali on Wednesday said more than 166,000 pilgrims were provided with healthcare services so far.

He pointed out that the general health of the pilgrims was reassuring and no outbreaks or infectious diseases threatening public health were detected.

The pilgrims completed standing at Arafat Tuesday evening and proceeded to perform remaining observances including their overnight stay in Muzdalifah.

He highlighted success of Ministry of Health’s preparations and its operations plan for Arafat Standing which is the peak of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The Spokesman pointed out that the ministry’s preparations had several aspects including the participation of all sectors by fielding about 36,000 cadres, 32,000 of them from the Ministry of Health alone. The number of volunteers who participated in providing healthcare services exceeded 7,600 this year.

Al-Abdali said the Ministry of Health had equipped several field hospitals in Arafat with a bed capacity of more than 800 beds and 45 centers, and underscored the services and contributions by other ministries, government agencies, and centers in delivering healthcare services to the pilgrims.

He appreciated the healthcare efforts by Ministry of Defense, which resulted in three field hospitals, and the Ministry of National Guard, whose efforts focused on equipping a center for addressing heat exhaustion cases.

He stated that a total of more than 166,000 people had been provided with various health services so far. The number of heat exhaustion cases reached 500, and they received quick treatment.

For his part, Ministry of Interior’s Security Spokesman announced that irst phase of the Hajj security plan had been implemented successfully following transportation of pilgrims from Makkah to holy sites over past 24 hours.

He said that pilgrims’ ascension to plains of Arafat and their prayers there were performed in complete tranquility and peace after they spent the Day of Tarwiyah in Mina, thanks to the strict implementation of the traffic and organizational plan for the transportation of pilgrims to the holy sites.

The spokesman added that the second phase of the plan was implemented to transport pilgrims from Arafat to Muzdalifah to spend the night there before they would resume their journey back to Mina.

On Wednesday, the pilgrims performed symbolic stoning of Satan at the Jamarat and later went to the Grand Mosque to perform Tawaf Al-Ifadah, the main circumambulation of Kaabah in Hajj.

He commended role of security personnel in implementing the second phase of the Hajj plan which entails organizing traffic and pedestrian movement between Arafat, Muzdalifah, and Mina.

Around 20,000 buses were used to transport pilgrims between Mina and Arafat via 11 routes with the support of more than 42,000 drivers and 195 support vehicles.

The arrival of pilgrims from their countries by air, sea, and land ports was also a smooth process as was their movement between Makkah, Madinah, and the holy sites.

In a record time of an hour before the set time, about 300,000 pilgrims were transported via the Mashaer train. The rest of the pilgrims were transported by more than 20,000 modern buses equipped with all requirements to transport the pilgrims.

During this Hajj season, self-driving buses were also introduced to carry the pilgrims within the holy sites, an experiment with initial results reported to be successful.