Medical personnel on stand-by for Thaipusam at Batu Caves

Tomorrow, Hindu devotees around the country will be celebrating the annual Hindu pilgrimage, Thaipusam. An approximate one million Hindus are expected to proceed to Batu Caves over a three-day period to celebrate the auspicious event.

In ensuring the public order and safety intact, 20 doctors and 20 paramedics from the Selayang Hospital are among 1,000 members of medical coordination teams on standby for the Thaipusam festival at the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Temple in Batu Caves here.

Selayang Hospital emergency, trauma and disaster management department director, Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Rahman, who is also the team head, said medical personnel would be on duty round-the-clock at the general, coordination and communication control centre located near the temple, as well as at several hot spots nearby.

He told Bernama that the team led by the health ministry, with the cooperation of various agencies including hospital personnel, Civil Defence Department and non-governmental organisations, are specially trained to handle emergency and trauma cases.

"We also have the support of eight ambulances stationed at the centre and hot spots which include the Gombak komuter station.

He said for emergency cases, assistance and treatment would be provided at the coordination centre in Batu Caves while critical cases would be sent to the nearest hospital.

According to Dr Alwi, the centre which had begun operations would remain open until Tuesday.

Although the Thaipusam festival begins tomorrow, Hindu devotees have begun visiting the temple to carry out religious rituals since last week.

Meanwhile, Thaipusam 2016 Security and Medical Bureau director, Datuk Dr A. T. Kumararajah said the bureau would raise its level of security and medical alertness to assist devotees.

Kumararajah, who is also trustee of Sri Subramaniar Swamy Temple, said this year would be the third where a high line would be deployed to bring down patients from the temple located at a height of 120 metres.

"The fire and rescue department used to bring down devotees in times of emergency, via the stairs.

"Nonetheless, we have improved safety features with this technique. which is faster as it takes less than a minute to bring down a patient from the temple," he added.