Employees of the Ministry of Health deployed in the holy sites for this year's Haj complained on Wednesday about deplorable accommodation services arranged for them. The 110 health care professionals, 70 men and 40 women, including physicians, nurses, and technicians have asked for their basic right to livable housing conditions from their ministry. They have been housed in a small building in Hamra District where seven people shared one room. Saeed Al-Ahmari, a deployed health care professional, said that his colleagues were shocked by the poor arrangements. “How can we perform and serve the pilgrims under such bad conditions,” he said questioning the reality they have experienced. “No transportation has been provided to us. We have to walk for a few kilometers to find a car to take us to work,” he said. “When we arrived there was no laundry facility. It took them a couple of days to provide washing machines,” he added. “But when the washing machines were provided, the water supply was cut off,” said a woman health care professional. Along with her colleagues had to wash their clothes at the hospital, she said. Another female physician complained about the bad conditions of the furniture and the dirty building. She said the bed sheets and blankets were tainted with blood. “Cockroaches are everywhere. You just cannot sleep in this place,” she said. An official at the Makkah Health Affairs Department said that they have received the complaints and working on them.
