Malaysian haj pilgrims, especially the elderly and those diagnosed with chronic illness, are advised against performing an additional umrah (minor haj) while they are in the preparation stage prior to performing the Wukuf in the plain of Arafah.
Tabung Haji public health unit head Dr Suhaila Osman said the move was to prevent the pilgrims from falling ill or faced problems that would affect their health and could jeopardise their worship during the Masyair phase, the most challenging and crucial five-day climax of the haj pilgrimage that expected to start on Aug 20.
The health itself comprises two components, namely prevention, where the pilgrims need to take a good care of themselves so they don't need to get treatment at the clinic and the second part is treatment where the pilgrims fall ill and seek help from the clinic.
In efforts to prevent the pilgrims from falling ill, Suhaila said her unit would carry out check on their record to ensure their health were in good condition.
We also carried out health screening (back in the country) on any pilgrim who has health problems as they went through examinations and if they were diagnosed with serious health problems then, they were referred to the specialists, she said to the media here today.
She said her unit, in efforts to ensure the wellbeing of the pilgrims during the haj period, would carry out several measures, among others, giving talks on health, conducting room-to-room checks for each group of pilgrims who arrived at the holy land to educate them how to take care of their health while they were there performing haj.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
