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Swine Flu Shots Now Mandatory For Haj Pilgrims 2009 - Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah
6 August 2009
RIYADH: Restricting Haj pilgrims to those between the ages of 12 and 65 will soon be a definite condition for the forthcoming Haj season, Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said in a statement on Wednesday. Al-Rabeeah said the proposal had been sent to the Cabinet for formal approval and would be forwarded to Saudi missions for action concerning the issuance of Haj visas. Al-Rabeeah, who is on a visit to Tunis, said the new measures would not affect countries’ Haj quotas. The minister said the proposal was based on decisions taken at a meeting of swine flu experts held in Jeddah and at an emergency meeting of Arab health ministers that took place in Cairo last month. To date, more than 600 people in the Kingdom have been affected with swine flu with six deaths caused by the infection. In addition to the age restrictions, Haj visas will not be given to pregnant women or to those who are chronically ill with heart, kidney, liver, lung, diabetes, obesity and hypertension problems. The minister said that overseas Saudi missions would instruct Haj operators to inform pilgrims of the current requirements and advise them to follow the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. He said that pilgrims taking part in the circumambulation, stoning of devil at Jamrat and the standing at Arafat would be required to wear face masks in order to reduce the risk of flu. Pilgrims must also be vaccinated two weeks prior to their departure for the holy cities. The minister said that the Kingdom had a comprehensive plan for Haj operations that also includes step to prevent the spread of the infectious disease. Millions of pilgrims who flock to the Kingdom will be required to provide health certificates showing that they do not have chronic diseases. The country will also require pilgrims to show proof they have received flu shots at home, Khaled Al-Mirghalani, the Health Ministry’s spokesman, said. “These conditions have been approved after consultations with top international experts in the field,” he added. “No one will be able to get a visa without fulfilling these new rules.” Al-Rabeeah said that the conditions are “balanced, fair and scientific.” He urged pilgrims to wear masks in crowded places, to sanitize their hands and to seek medical help if they have flu symptoms. Calling on the international media to cooperate with the Kingdom in its efforts to control the flu, Al-Rabeeah said that the Kingdom had adequate medicines and facilities to cope with any emergency during the Haj. In addition to local preparations, the ministry has ordered four million vaccines expected to arrive in October. Riyadh Al-Kheneini, deputy chief of mission at the Saudi Embassy in Colombo, said on Wednesday that the Saudi Foreign Ministry had not yet made any changes in the rules concerning the issuance of Umrah visas. “We are still waiting for the new regulations for Haj,” he added. In another development, Bahrain registered its first swine flu case involving a Saudi on Wednesday. In all, six people tested positive taking the toll of H1N1 cases to 136 on the island. “This is the first case where a 28-year-old Saudi man from Jeddah is infected with the virus. He will be kept in isolation ward and quarantined,” a Health Ministry spokesperson said. A 16-year-old Bahraini boy who returned from Umrah was also among the six who tested positive. Since Monday, a Filipino, a Japanese and a Canadian citizen have tested positive for swine flu. All were coming to Bahrain from high-risk countries. All the patients have been kept in isolation at the Ebrahim Kanoo Health Center. Bahrain has recorded no swine flu fatalities. The Ministry has stockpiled Tamiflu drugs at the government pharmacy to treat swine flu cases. Officials have also placed orders for powerful vaccines to protect Haj and Umrah pilgrim from cases that do not respond to Tamiflu medicine. More than 200,000 doses of the vaccines are expected to arrive by October. Two more flu deaths reported The Ministry of Health announced Tuesday two more swine flu fatalities, which brings the total number of reported H1N1-linked deaths in the Kingdom to six. The new fatalities are a 15-year-old Saudi boy and a Sri Lankan salesman with a UAE address who was identified as Mohammed Mafaz Mohammed Saleem, 31. The man was found dead in his hotel room on Monday. “Both deaths are in the capital,” said Health Ministry Spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani. “The Saudi boy died here Tuesday. He was suffering from a congenital heart problem.” Saleem was an employee of RGG group, subsidiary of Al Hokair Group, and traveled to Riyadh regularly to sell ladies apparel items to retail outlets in Riyadh. Sri Lankan Embassy Charge D’affaires Sabarullah Khan told Arab News that the death certificate that was delivered to the Lankan government cited the cause of death as a “heart attack.” “This is really shocking to hear that the death was due to H1N1,” Khan said. The embassy official said that Saleem visited numerous health centers, “yet none of them diagnosed the disease properly, and such negligence had led to an unfortunate death,” said Khan. Saleem arrived here on June 25 with a severe cough and high fever and was reportedly refused admission for treatment. Saleem visited a government hospital around 11 a.m. on Friday. He visited another hospital at around 6 p.m. on Sunday where a doctor took samples of saliva and mucous and prescribed medicine for pneumonia before sending the man on his way. The report showing the man had swine flu arrived on Monday, the day his body was found in a hotel room in the capital. The staff at the hotel — the Golden Tulip Hotel in Qasr Al-Nasseriyah — was tested for swine flu because the Saleem had resided there for nine days. In related news, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) and the Saudi Health Ministry have officially registered a new medicine for the treatment of swine flu, the local daily Al-Madinah reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, SFDA Deputy Chairman Dr. Saleh Bawazir said the Saudi-made medicine named Oselta is considered the first medicine in the world that is effective against swine flu particularly after the end of the preventive period of Tamiflu. “This 75 mg capsules drug is an alternative medicine which is 30 percent less than the price of the current medicine,” he said. Bawazir did not give the name of the national company that invented the drug but said a medical doctor should take the medicine only on prescription to those who actually have H1N1. As cases of swine flu grow in the Kingdom, Deputy Chairman of Committee of Health and Treatment in Iranian Parliament Hussein Ali Shehrayari said Iran would not send Iranian pilgrims for Umrah during the month of Ramadan in view of the spread of swine flu disease, the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting Iranian newspapers on Tuesday. “In view of the spread of pandemic influenza virus of type A/H1N1 and the increasing number of people infected with the disease, it is necessary to take precautionary measures for the prevention of this disease,” Shehrayari said.
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