All is set for Hajj 2017, DAILY GUIDE has learnt. The Tamale flight arrangements have been made in readiness for the commencement of the maiden airlift on August 10, 2017, six flights having been earmarked for that location.
The second stakeholders meeting was held late last week during which representatives of the Ghana Airports Company Limited, the various security agencies and others discussed details of security arrangements and traffic control in the general area of the Hajj Village, among other details, during the airlift operations.
The road leading to the Hajj Village has received a major facelift, the eroded portions which used to make for difficult motoring into the place now smoothened up.
Meanwhile, one of the flagships of Hajj 2017, the medical screening of prospective pilgrims, is ongoing in the Northern Regions, with Dr Zakaria Seidu reporting a successful exercise the turnout. The results of the medical screening would be captured by the IT unit in a database of the medical records of prospective pilgrims.
While in Saudi Arabia, there would be periodic visits to the various locations of Ghanaian pilgrims to determine their health statuses, Dr Zakaria disclosed. He added that a public education exercise would be carried out to encourage pilgrims to wash their hands very often since he said, “Some 40 percent of diseases would be obviated with constant hand washing research has showed.”
There would also be a special place for the aged so that the relevant care that they need would be provided, Dr Zakaria has said.
Dr Sani Abdulai, Head of IT, has laid out major reforms in the management of information, which is intended to ensure that the previous challenges encountered during the Hajj are obviated.
Besides working hand in hand with the medical department in the area of management of the database of the health records of pilgrims, he would unfurl software to tackle the worrying challenge of missing persons and its associated inconveniences.
Last Friday, he was on Metro TV showcasing the innovations that his department would bring to bear on Hajj 2017 to make a positive difference.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, it would be recalled, charged the IT head to release innovations that would eliminate the eyesore of prospective pilgrims converging on the Hajj Village not knowing when they would be airlifted inter alia.
In a related development, the over 400 persons who paid to be airlifted last year but were unable to do so the whereabouts of their monies still unknown have been asked to top up a mandatory GH¢2,900 so they can make it to Saudi Arabia.
The Hajj Board is making good its pledge to ensure that those who were disappointed last year make it this year but since the moneys received for the airlift cover what they paid earlier, there would be the need for them to pay up the difference.
<<Print>>