– As NAHCON Calls for increased collaboration with AHOUN
Head, Medical Team of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Dr. Usman Galadima, has disclosed that four to five Nigerian pilgrims developed heat stroke at Arafat, citing the hot weather condition in Saudi Arabia.
While speaking with Muslim News on Tuesday, the day of Arafat, Dr. Galadima stated that most of the affected people are senior citizens and they were managed at the heat stroke unit of their facilities at Arafat.
“We had about 4 to 5 patients who developed heat stroke. The reason is that as early as 10am, our pilgrims were moving to Jabal Rahma (another name for Mount Arafat). Some would sit there until sunset. The temperature today (Tuesday) was between 44 and 45 degree Celsius and it’s so hot for people to stay on the mountain for that length of time.
“So, there were consequences, especially for the elderly. Four to six of them were managed in the heat stroke unit here in Arafat. Some would be conveyed down to Makkah tomorrow (Wednesday) for further treatment.
“Apart from that, majority of the cases treated are infections like cough, catarrh and so on. Some also developed malaria,” he added.
Preparation for Muzdalifah, Jamarat
The NAHCON official said it’s the duty of the medical team to leave Arafat after all pilgrims must have been transported to Muzdalifah, where its officials and ambulances would be on standby to provide medical services to pilgrims.
He further noted: “We’ll also be handy to provide our services along the route to the Jamarat. But what we are going to be doing is just station our people along the route, so if there’s any problem they can easily be reached. Then, we take the person to the nearest health centre because ambulances are not allowed along the Jamarat route at all.
“However, there are about 20 health centres along the route to Jamarat. So, those are the services we’ll be providing. All our clinics in Muna would be re-established and we will continue to attend to Nigerian pilgrims until they leave”, he said.
Commends pilgrims on cooperation
The medical practitioner lauded Nigerian pilgrims on their cooperation with officials of the medical team, urging them to continue in that direction.
According to him, “The pilgrims have been quite cooperative. However, in a mass gathering like this, coupled with the stress associated with the hajj rites generally, it is not unlikely that you find some people getting angry with the situation they find themselves in. What happened today at the tent where we appealed to the pilgrims who are already lying down comfortably in their tent to provide space for us to set up a clinic within their tent, for which they cooperated, is commendable.”
Calls for increased collaboration with AHOUN
Dr. Galadima called for a good working relationship and an increased collaboration with the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria, AHOUN for effective service delivery to the pilgrims.
The Head of Medical Mission noted that he is aware that the pilgrims of the private operators were not camped in the midst of other Nigerian pilgrims at Muna, thereby promised to locate them and hand over the drugs allocation to them.
“I had a discussion with the vice president of AHOUN. We are poised to provide the services for them. They are Nigerians. There just need to be increased cooperation and collaboration. We should have a good working relationship. We will look for them. I understand they have been relocated or so. So, we didn’t know where they were, but we will look for them. Their drugs are in our ambulances. I’ll get across to the officials to find out where they are.”
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