New health card for Haj medical care

To ensure adequate medical provision and protection for residents who will be travelling to Saudi Arabia for Haj this year, the Haj Medical Committee has introduced a new health card, which will show health status of each applicant.The applicants are expected to declare their health problems by asking their physicians to fill the card, which is already available at Abu Hamour Vaccination Centre and all primary healthcare centres across the country.It contains a list of chronic diseases such as diabetes, bronchitis, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, low immune problem, renal diseases, hypersensitivity to drugs, liver disease, hypertension and epilepsy. Apart from the health card, all pilgrims are also being mandated to get vaccinated against certain diseases such as meningitis and influenza at least 10 days before embarking on the journey in order to protect themselves against any outbreak of these diseases.They can receive both vaccines at Abu Hamour Vaccination Centre and any PHC nearest to them from 7am-2pm and 4pm-10pm.On Saturday, the vaccines are available at Abu Hamour Vaccination Centre and the Messaimer PHC from 7am-1pmIn Saudi Arabia the committee will have two emergency medical services (EMS) ambulances and also open special clinics in Makkah, Mina and Arafat to cater to all medical needs of pilgrims from Qatar.At the end of their Haj, pilgrims will be required to take an antibiotics called ciprofloxacin, which will guard them and their families members against any other infections they might have contracted while in Saudi Arabia.Between 8,000 and 10,000 people will be going on pilgrimage from Qatar this year and some 36 medical teams comprising 15 physicians, four pharmacists, 14 nurses and three EMS personnel will be accompanying them. “We have introduced this initiative in order to identify those who should be on top of our priority list for medical care while in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, we can ensure protection for those who are not having any of such diseases,” Haj Medical Committee chairman Dr Khalid al-Hadi said.He explained that the special clinics would be well-equipped with good amount of medications for different diseases.“We are fully prepared to meet all urgent health needs of pilgrims in terms of first aid, especially for those that may require hospitalisation,” he said.The committee has also published an information booklet about health education and what pilgrims should know about their health while in the holy land.Other committee members present at the press conference were Dr Mishal al-Mesaifi and Vaccination Section head and Haj mission head nurse Issam Diab.