Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Health Ministry will deploy Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) during the 1444 Hijri/2023 Hajj pilgrimage season in Saudi Arabia to promptly handle medical emergencies and reduce mortality among pilgrims.
"One of our strategies to maintain the health of pilgrims this year is preparing specialist doctors as EMTs to be stationed in each (pilgrimage) sector," the ministry’s Hajj Health Center Head Liliek Marhaendro Susilo noted here on Friday.
The EMTs are tasked with conducting early detection and emergency response to any medical incident involving pilgrims.
The team would refer the pilgrims to the Indonesian Hajj Health Office (KKHI) or the local hospitals for further treatment.
The EMTs comprise 15 medical specialists in anesthesia, internal medicine, surgery, neurology, and cardiology. Moreover, 12 general practitioners and 43 nurses will offer health services in addition to an emergency room being prepared.
The emergency health workers will be deployed to provide health services in five sectors of the Medina working area and in 11 sectors of the Mecca working area close to the pilgrims’ hotels.
The attempt is aimed at facilitating health service access for the pilgrims, especially in emergency situations that cannot be handled by Hajj health workers assigned in each pilgrim’s flight group.
The EMTs are also stationed at several special posts, such as at the Nabawi Mosque, Syib Amir Terminal of the Great Mosque of Mecca, Arafah, and Mina.
The emergency teams will also accompany the pilgrims at the peak of the Hajj season while carrying out the pilgrimage rituals in the areas of Arafah, Muzdalifah, and Mina (Armuzna).
The EMTs will conduct their tasks in collaboration with the Crisis Handling and First Aid Team for Pilgrims (PKP3JH), the Pilgrim Protection Team (Linjam), as well as the elderly service officers deployed by the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The Religious Affairs Ministry noted that some 67 thousand out of the 210 thousand Indonesian pilgrims this year are elderly.
The first batch of the Hajj pilgrimage flight groups will depart for Saudi Arabia from May 24 to June 7, 2023. Meanwhile, the second batch of the flight groups would depart from June 8 to June 21.
Furthermore, the first batch of the flight groups would return to Indonesia from July 4 to July 18, and the second one would return from July 19 to August 2.
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