`Labaik Allahuma Labaik’: Post pandemic, Saudi takes ailing, bed-ridden patients for Hajj

MAKKAH: Saudi Health Ministry has decided to take ailing and bedridden pilgrims from Madinah hospitals to the holy sites to perform Hajj.

Arab News reported that the ministry said that the convoy, which took off at dawn on Tuesday, consists of 10 ambulances equipped with medical equipment, along with a specialized medical team consisting of doctors, nurses, and paramedics, in addition to five empty spare ambulances, an intensive care ambulance, an oxygen cabin, a mobile first-aid unit, and a bus to transport the patients’ companions.

Every year, the ministry transfers bedridden pilgrims from Madinah hospitals to the holy sites so that they can fulfill their Hajj rituals and complete their treatment in the hospitals of the holy sites after providing them with medical services in Madinah hospitals.

Pilgrims expressed appreciation for the help provided to perform Hajj despite their health conditions.

Meanwhile, ambassadors and envoys from across the Muslim world have hailed Saudi Arabia’s hosting of Hajj this year.

Pilgrims from around the world have gathered in Makkah for the biggest Hajj pilgrimage since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic almost two years ago.

Hajj was restricted to just 1,000 people residing in Saudi Arabia in 2020, and 60,000 domestic pilgrims in 2021.

This year, after lifting most of its COVID-19 curbs, Saudi Arabia will welcome 1 million pilgrims, including 850,000 from abroad to perform Hajj — one of the five pillars of Islam, which all Muslims with the required means must perform once in a lifetime.

Foreign diplomats in Saudi Arabia have praised the Kingdom for its expansive Hajj arrangements this year.