| Saudi Health Care Services Geared Up To Serve Haj Pilgrims |
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MECCA, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- The Saudi Arabian health authorities are gearing up towards serving haj pilgrims in Mecca, Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah and Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian English daily, Arab News, reported Wednesday.
"The Ajyad Emergency Hospital, in proximity to the Grand Mosque, has been refurbished with 52 beds, spread over an area of 3,000 square meters," the newspaper quoted Khaled Obaid Zafar, the director-general of Health Affairs in Mecca province.
Its emergency department contains 10 beds for men, seven for women, eight for observation, eight for coronary care, two for revival of heart and lung and 12 for intensive care, said Zafar.
He added that the hospital's isolation ward has five beds, modern laboratory, scanning and X-ray departments, pharmacy and separate sections for medical records, dieting, social and patient relations plus a single-day surgery department with 20 beds and operation theaters, said Zafar.
"The King Faisal Hospital has been refurbished and has double its previous capacity. It also has state-of-the-art laboratory, blood bank, tissue and tuberculosis departments and an emergency ward which has 29 beds with separate sections for men and women," he said.
Ibn Sina Hospital was expanded and has additional space for 100 beds while two new health centers have been added, Zafar said.
The Mina Valley Hospital has been reconstructed with 194 beds - 25 of these are for intensive care, 25 for sunstroke patients, 24 for observation and has two operation theaters.
"The Mina Bridge Hospital has been totally renovated and now has a capacity for 140 beds, four operation theaters, latest medical apparatus, 28 beds for intensive care and outpatient clinics," Zafar said.
"The New Mina Street Hospital has 50 beds while the clinics which used to function in tents have been shifted to the new building. The Al-Jamrat Bridge has 20 health centers now," he added.
"Twenty-five beds in the 100-bed King Saud Hospital in Jeddah is reserved for intensive care in preventive health services for pilgrims arriving at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah," he said.
Meanwhile, Tabung Haji's invited religious scholar Ustaz Sapawi Che Mat said Malaysian pilgrims can continue to use scented sanitizers which were initially deemed unsuitable.
Newspaper reports here on Tuesday had quoted religious scholars as advising Haj pilgrims to avoid using hand sanitizers that contain perfume while in ihram and use scentless disinfectants instead.
The newspaper quoted Sheikh Ahmed Hamad Al-Mazroua, a judge at the Court of Cassation in Mecca, as saying that the use of scented sanitizers while pilgrims are in ihram, is a violation of the rules of ihram.
"Since the intension of using such sanitizers was to cleanse their hands and not to add any form of perfume to their bodies, it is does not violate any rules of ihram," said Sapawi.
-- BERNAMA
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