Nearly a city of expanding tents outside Makkah, the staff of the Saudi hospital is preparing for an avalanche of cases related to heat as Muslim pilgrims begin Ha this week at summer stifling temperatures.
The Mina emergency hospital is one of the 15 facilities of this type that operate only a few weeks a year around the annual pilgrimage to the most sacred sites of Islam, which in 2024 saw more than 1,300 people die in the heat of the desert.
Saudi authorities hope to avoid a fatal repetition of last year’s pilgrimage when temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius.
It is forecast that this year’s temperatures will exceed 40 degrees Celsius as one of the largest annual religious meetings in the world, which brings together devotees around the world, officially begins on Wednesday.
Until now, the authorities have registered 44 cases of heat exhaustion.
Abdullah Asiri, Deputy Minister of Health of the population of Saudi Arabia, said AFP in the Mina Hospital that “the approach is in heat -related conditions because the HAJ coincides with extreme heat.”
Restored with the staff, but there are still no patients, the hospital is part of the efforts of the kingdom to prepare for “the worst case” after the pilgrims descend to mine, said Asiri.
Challenging the scorching heat, the pilgrims have already begun to go to Makkah. Until Sunday, more than 1.4 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage of several days, according to officials.
Makkah’s great mosque is treated by the world’s largest cooling system, according to Saudi state television, with huge fans and cooled pavements that dot the mass complex.
But outside, hiding from heat can be challenging.
Greater capacity
Some pilgrims wear caps or have umbrella, but others walk on foot without any protection of the sun, such as the Palestine Rabah Mansour, 70, who said that after a lifetime of working outside as a farmer, “heat does not bother me.”
“I’ve been working in the fields since I was a child,” he said, while sweat dripped on his face.
While many pilgrims can be overcome with religious fervor, Asiri warned the devotees against which they are unnecessarily exposed to hard conditions.
Badr Shreiteh, another Palestinian pilgrim, said AFP that he believed that such difficulties on the Haj path would increase the blessings it reaps.
“As you can see, we are dripping with sweat,” he said, adding: “The more difficulties we support, the more reward we win.”
According to Asiri, from the Ministry of Health, a total of 50,000 health workers and administrative staff for the HAJ have been mobilized, far exceeding the numbers of previous years.
More than 700 hospital beds are ready, equipped with fans to treat serious cases of heat diseases.
“The capacity this year has expanded in more than 60 percent compared to last year,” said Asiri, waiting for a greater number of patients.
“That’s why we are doing all these measures,” he said.
Last year, medical staff treated 2,764 pilgrims for heat exhaustion and other heat -related conditions, according to the Ministry of Health.
‘Challenge’
To prevent people from needing hospitalization in the first place, 71 emergency medical points have been established around Makkah’s sacred sites with an focus on “treating patients on the ground before their case deteriorates,” said Asiri.
On the second day of Haj, the pilgrims will go to Mount Arafat, climb it and recite prayers throughout the day.
Asiri said pilgrims can remain in the shade.
“Most heat -related diseases that occur in Arafat is because people think they should be under the sun,” he said.
“You don’t have to be out of your store during Arafat. You don’t have to climb the mountain,” he added, citing any religious obligation to do so, “and is very risky from the point of view of health.”
Haj Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said AFP Previously, thousands of nebulization fans and more than 400 water cooling units have been deployed.
The authorities built cooled catwalks, including a recently completed four -kilometer route that leads to Arafat.
Haj deaths of last year were an example of the havoc forged by heat in 2024, that the Copernicus Climate Change Service said it was the most popular ever registered.
Abdul Majid Ati, from the Philippines, said there is “extreme heat, but there are also times when we are inside the (great mosque): it is an extreme cold due to tiles and air conditioning.”
“We take this as a challenge and proof of our moral character.”
