Tabung Haji will step up health monitoring this Haj season - Ismee Ismail

Tabung Haji (TH) will step up health monitoring of Malaysian haj pilgrims this year in view of the MERS-Cov and Ebola (EVD) outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and Africa respectively, said its Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Ismee Ismail.

He said TH and the Health Ministry would cooperate to ensure the monitoring was done on the 22,320 pilgrims who would be going to the Holy Land this year.

"Six hundred staffers will be sent to the Holy Land to look after the welfare of the pilgrims, almost half of them are from the Health Ministry," he told reporters after opening a Haj course for 2,000 Haj pilgrims from the Federal Territory at the Putra Mosque here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, he said the first Haj flight carrying 279 pligrims will depart to Jeddah from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Aug 27 and the last on Sept 27.

There would be a total of 64 Haj flights from seven airports in the country this year, he added.