Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah inaugurated a 100-bed hospital for patients in pilgrims' city in Jeddah's Al-Muhammadya district, Thursday. The King Saud Hospital will have 25 ICU beds. Al-Rabeah also toured the pilgrims' city to check on the progress of work and preparedness of the medical staff. “Pilgrims' city is equipped with all medical equipment and trained technical staff,” he said. Some 590 medical and para-medical staff are working round-the-clock to serve the pilgrims, Al-Rabeah said. He urged the medical staff and pilgrims to follow health advices and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. Brochures on medical safety printed in various languages are being distributed at holy sites and ports of entry to the pilgrims. Authorities were to begin vaccinating hundreds of thousands of health and other Haj workers as well as domestic pilgrims against swine flu from next week, Dr. Ziad Memish, Assistant Deputy Health Minister for Preventive Medicine was quoted as saying.
