By Hassan Cheruppa,
Jeddah: India’s Haj Mission in Makkah is geared up fully to provide the best ever services to 136,000 pilgrims. The Mission has mobilized its staffers as well as 546 officials, who are on deputation from India, to serve the pilgrims. “By the Grace of Almighty Allah, we have been able to handle and manage the Haj operations very well,” Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak told reporters.
Those who came from India included 139 doctors and 150 paramedics as well as six coordinators, 54 assistant Haj officers and 190 Haj assistants. Consignments of medicines, weighing about 80 tons and costing SR1.25 million (20 million rupees), have also been brought from India, he said. Indian Haj Consul Sheikh Md. Noor Rahman said, as of Thursday, a total of 121,022 cases were handled at the Out Patient Departments (OPD) of its branch dispensaries, besides 5,288 cases treated by mobile medical teams. A team of journalists from Jeddah were impressed by the elaborate arrangements made by the Mission during a recent tour to the Mission’s offices and hospitals in Makkah’s Jarwal and Aziziyah as well as at the Mina camp. Mubarak and Rahman were there to receive the journalists and brief them on the final preparations for Haj. Addressing a press conference at the Haj Mission office on Wednesday, Mubarak said everything is going smoothly, and strictly in line with the operation plan. As of Thursday, a total of 90,707 Haj Committee pilgrims arrived on board 336 flights. Most of the private pilgrims are now in Madinah.
With the arrival of the last batch of pilgrims on Monday, the total number of pilgrims who come under India’s Central Haj Committee will reach 100,000 in addition to 36,000 private pilgrims. The pilgrims will be under 28 maktabs and there are about 3,750 pilgrims under each maktab. There is a good response for Indian Haji Accommodation Locator as more than 9,000 pilgrims downloaded the application. The consul general said there are three pilgrims above the age of 100 and they are — Injil Hussein Bishwas from West Bengal and Abul Raheem and Fida Hussein from Uttar Pradesh. A total of 38 pilgrims died and these included three private pilgrims. One pilgrim from Tamil Nadu died in a lift accident in Makkah. “The overall health condition of pilgrims is satisfactory and we have made all the arrangements to cope with the predicted hot temperatures during Haj,” he said.
Dr. Muhammad Abid from Ajmer is the medical in charge of the Mission. Dr. Riyasuddeen Khan and Dr. Inam Dhar are the medical coordinators. There is a 50-bed hospital in Jarwal and 30-bed hospital in Aziziyah, in addition to 13 branch dispensaries attached to branch offices. Saudi Gazette saw 29 pilgrims, including nine women, who are convalescing at the Jarwal hospital. Dr. Waheedul Haque is the medical in charge of the hospital. There are 10 doctors and 20 paramedics at the hospital where a total of 142 pilgrims had been admitted. Most pilgrims received treatment for upper respiratory tract infection, gastritis and chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases as well as other old age diseases, Haque said. As of Tuesday, a total of 5,458 cases were treated at the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the branch dispensary attached to the hospital. There are 26 inpatients at the Aziziyah hospital where there are 20 doctors and over 30 paramedics. Dr. Syed Jabbar from Rajasthan is the medical in charge. The hospitals and dispensaries will work until the last pilgrim’s departure. It is working round the clock basis. On Arafat Day, all pilgrims will be transported to Arafat. There are 16 ambulances at the mission, and these included six newly inducted ones.