The recent Ministry of Haj directive to all Tawafa establishments to provide medical staff in their Haj camps has come in for appreciation from several quarters. The decision to make medical teams at Haj camps mandatory is an important precautionary measure aimed at ensuring the safety of pilgrims and protecting them from the imminent danger of swine flu pandemic spreading all over the world. Saeed Bin Jameel Quraishi, head of Umrah and Haj Committee in the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said all Tawafa establishments have been directed to provide male and female doctors and nurses also of both genders. These establishments would now minimally need 1,000 doctors and nurses, he said. The Tawafa establishments, he said, have already started looking for competent and experienced medical staff to carry out this delicate task. Al-Quraishi believes that the ministry's decision needs clarification to precisely define the number of medical staff needed by each establishment depending on the number of pilgrims they deal with. “There are small companies that cater to the needs of only 500 pilgrims, but there are others who serve 3,000 or more pilgrims,” he said urging the ministry of health officials to urgently meet with representatives from the Tawafa establishments to discuss the matter and to remove the ambiguity. In the next few days, he said, the MCCI committee would approach the General Health Affairs Directorate in Makkah to coordinate with it and benefit from the experience of the directorate's staff working in epidemic diseases section to recommend to Tawafa establishments efficient epidemiologists to be hired. He said if the Tawafa establishments find it difficult to secure the requested medical staff, then the committee would seek seasonal or temporary visas to recruit specialist medical staff from outside the Kingdom. The committee, he said, is giving due attention to the swine flu pandemic and is organizing a series of workshops focusing on measures to control the disease. The measures, he said, included launching of intensive awareness campaigns to enlighten external and internal pilgrims about preventive ways besides distributing hundreds of thousands of brochures to Umrah performers and pilgrims in their countries through Saudi embassies and consulates enlightening them about preventive measures.
