All Malaysian pilgrims screened before being allowed to perform haj

All potential Malaysian haj pilgrims have undergone health screening before being allowed to perform the fifth pillar of Islam, deputy head of Malaysian haj delegation (Medical) Dr Saiful Azlan Shariff said.

This was to ensure that the pilgrims would be able to perform the haj rituals and other religious obligations during the pilgrimage without any problems.

"Pilgrims who require specific medical treatment, such as kidney patients who must undergo dialysis treatment or stage-four cancer patients, will not be allowed," he said yesterday.

He said this was to avoid complications as it would be difficult for the patients to get medical treatment when millions of Muslims were gathering in the Holy Land to perform the pilgrimage.

Dr Saiful Azlan said the Malaysian Health Ministry and Tabung Haji (TH) had issued a pilgrim medical record book to each potential pilgrim to enable the medical team to monitor their health status.

The medical record book will also become the source of reference for the ministry and TH to decide whether or not the potential pilgrims were fit to perform the haj pilgrimage based on the colour code, he said.

Green is for pilgrims deemed fit and healthy, yellow is for those with heart ailment, diabetes and hypertension but in stable condition and passed the health examination, red is for pilgrims with high-risk illness but passed the health examination and required a healthy escort of same gender while in the Holy Land, while black is for those who failed the health examination and not allowed to perform the pilgrimage, he said.

Dr Saiful Azlan said doctors and medical specialists who made the final decision on the pilgrims' medical examination comprised those who were registered with TH.

He said this in response to the local media report which stated that the Saudi government was concerned about the rising number of haj pilgrims who were suffering from chronic or serious illness as this could jeopardise the health of other pilgrims.

The condition was reported to have given additional problems to health service providers in the Holy Land.

So far, Dr Saiful Azlan said only 13 out of over 18,000 Malaysian haj pilgrims were admitted to the Saudi Arabian hospitals to seek further medical treatment which could not be provided at TH hospital, such as surgery and intensive care.

"Right now, only seven of them were still warded at those hospitals," he said.

Meanwhile, he said TH had set up three medical centres, namely the Aziziah Hospital, Shyisyah Medical Centre and Abraj Janadiriyyah Medical Centre, besides 10 clinics at its hostels.

Fifteen out of its 250 medical staff are specialist doctors, he said.

Dr Saiful Azlan said TH medical centres and clinic received over 1,200 patients daily or 13,746 patients so far, including repeat patients.

A total of 152 patients are currently warded at the three TH medical centres, he added.