Welfare, safety and health of pilgrims focus areas for TH operations enhancement

Datuk Seri Syed Saleh Syed Abd Rahman (left)

By Fadzli Ramli

MAKKAH, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- The welfare, safety and health of pilgrims are the key focus areas of the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) in enhancing its services in the next haj season, said Head of the Malaysian Haj Delegation Datuk Seri Syed Saleh Syed Abd Rahman.

He said that at the end of this year's haj season, TH would hold a post mortem meeting to evaluate in detail the journey of this year's operations as well as to identify areas for improvement especially involving those three focus areas.

“We will also gather feedback from all parties involved and TH will continue to hold closing meetings with several haj agencies involved including Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Haj and Umrah, Southeast Asia Muassasah and Muassasah Adilla in Madinah.

“We will talk about efforts to improve the facilities and services provided to Malaysian pilgrims,” ​​he said at a press conference on the wrap up of this year's haj operation at the TH Headquarters Abraj Janadriyah here today.

A total of 30,200 Malaysian pilgrims performed the fifth pillar of Islam this year, assisted by 640 TH officials.

Syed Saleh said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa would also attend the annual meeting with the Saudi government to discuss various issues on improving the haj operations.

However, he said providing additional facilities for a country was not an easy task as the areas and facilities, especially in Arafat and Mina, were very limited and the number of pilgrims was huge.

“We will hold discussions on how to improve the facilities. Next year, we will look at regulations as each year there will be new regulations and facilities, so we can plan our operations based on the latest,” he said.

Commenting on the proposal to shorten the period of stay for ageing pilgrims, he said the proposal would be detailed later but had its own pros and cons.

"Some ageing pilgrims need more time to acclimatise before moving to Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina because the weather here is very different. Their support system is changing from family to friends and TH staff, as well as the change in their diet. All these changes take time," he said.

Asked about what was his high point during the haj operation this year, Syed Saleh said he was very happy to see the joy that radiated from the pilgrims' faces once they had successfully completed the worship.

“As they return to the hotel all dishevelled and tired after the very challenging Masyair worship, they could still smile and even thanked TH for helping them. That, I will never forget,” he said.

-- BERNAMA