Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Haj and Umrah, which has been fine tuning its Haj arrangements, reiterated that Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman is determined to provide a safe and comfortable pilgrimage, said Mohammed Saleh Benten, minister for Haj and Umrah.

The minister visited the headquarters of National Establishment of Mutawafis of Pilgrims of South Asia and Non-Arab African countries on Sunday evening and reviewed the operational plans and level of preparations for Haj season, according to the ministry statement issued late Sunday.

The Mutawafis of South Asian Pilgrims also deal with Gulf region that include Qatar. The minister urged Tawafa establishments to exert maximum efforts to render best possible service to pilgrims.

He held elaborate discussions with South Asian Establishment regarding the provisions of food, transport, housing and guidance etc. for pilgrims. All relevant Haj organizations attended the meeting along with its chairman Rafat Bin Ismail Badr.

The minister also viewed visual presentation of operational plans of Non-Arab African pilgrims for the Haj and held wide range of discussions regarding operations with Rami Saleh Bani. He hailed the effective usage of social networking sites by various Haj stakeholders in smooth conducting of their operational plan.

The minister and his accompanying delegation conducted field tours to take stock of situation. He was accompanied by Hussain Al Shareef, undersecretary for Haj affairs, Mohammed Ahmed Aqad, director general for ministry in Makkah region and other senior officials.

The ministry, on the other hand, said more than 100,000 domestic pilgrims have so far completed their electronic registration to do Haj this year and expected the number to grow up within the coming few days.

Meanwhile, the first batch of 800 Iranian pilgrims arrived in Madinah on Sunday to a warm welcome by the concerned government and private bodies while in Jeddah, deputy Emir of Makkah, Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar, reviewed the arrangements being made to receive the pilgrims at King Abdulaziz International Airport.

As many as 86,500 pilgrims from Iran, which boycotted the pilgrimage last year, are expected to perform the Haj this year.

Within the ongoing preparations for the Haj, Emir of Makkah Prince Khaled Al-Faisal met in Jeddah on Sunday with Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdul Rahman Bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadli, who briefed him on the water projects in the region.

He told the Emir that the ministry would pump 18,15 million cubic meters of water to the Holy Sites with an increase of about 21 percent over the quantity provided last year.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Health has prepared 25 hospitals and 155 health centers to serve the pilgrims. These included four hospitals in Mina, four in Arafat, seven in Makkah and nine in Madinah in addition to 43 health centers in Makkah, 78 in the Holy Sites and 18 in Madinah.

Together the hospitals and the health centers have a combined capacity of 5,000 beds including 500 in the intensive care unit and 550 in the emergency wards. The ministry has provided more than 29,000 medical cadres consisting of doctors, nurses, technicians and administrators to provide preventive and curative treatment to the pilgrims.

Meanwhile random medical check ups were made on the bus drivers of eight transport companies to make sure that they were drug free. Director of the center to monitor poisons, Mohammed bin Issa Miraiani, said any foreign driver who tests positive will be deported home while the Saudi drivers will be handed over to the drug fighting department for treatment.