New Delhi: The ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has written to states and Union territories (UTs), seeking names of serving Muslim male and female doctors as well as paramedics to accompany Indian Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
These medical professionals for Hajj medical deputation will help provide healthcare services in Saudi Arabia at facilities manned by Indian doctors.
Every year, thousands of Indian Muslims go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This year, India has got a quota of 175,025 Hajj pilgrims as per a bilateral agreement signed in January with Saudi Arabia.
The ministry has requested the states/UTs to appoint a nodal officer to send nominations of deputationists to the directorate general of health services at the health ministry by 7 February.
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“The Hajj pilgrimage, being a large scale mass gathering, requires preparedness in the form of medical screening, vaccinations of the pilgrims, constant monitoring of the health of these pilgrims throughout the period. MoHFW seeks your support and cooperation to ensure a safe, hassle-free, and seamless Hajj pilgrimage 2025 with minimal health challenges,” health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said in her letter to the states/UTs, as seen by Mint.
The nominee should be a serving Muslim, permanent employee in government health facilities in the age bracket of 25-55 years for doctors, and 25-45 years for paramedics. Pregnant females should not be nominated.
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The medical professionals that are required include doctors (general medicine, pulmonary medicine), gynaecologists, radiologists, orthopaedics, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, ECG technicians, physiotherapists, biomedical engineers and lab technicians.
“As is already known, the pilgrims would be provided healthcare in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the health facilities along the pilgrimage route. These health facilities would be manned by the doctors and paramedics working in the health facilities of the government at the Centre and state/UT level, medical and dental colleges, and in various institutes of India. The period of deputation will be approximately 2-3 months tentaively from mid of April to mid of June 2025,” Srivastava said.
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Queries sent to the Union health ministry remained unanswered till press time.
Online portal
Starting this year, the health ministry has developed an online portal for inviting the applications for deputation of medical professionals for Hajj 2025.
The health ministry will conduct the actual assessment of the nominations based on experience, specialization and desirable qualification. Preference would be given to those, who have not gone for this duty in the past.
“From the nominations received, the final selection for deputation will be the purview of the screening committee of the ministry of health and family welfare,” the letter stated.
The ministry said that selected candidates will not be allowed to take any of their family members (parents, spouses, children) even at their own cost.
The government will also conduct the workshop and capacity building training program before the departure of medical team from India who will be deployed by consulate general of India (CGI), Jeddah, for rendering appropriate medical services to the pilgrims at various hospitals and branch dispensaries in Makkah, Madinah, Hajj terminal at Jeddah, camps at Mina and Arafat, etc. on a functional basis.
The average cost of a Hajj pilgrimage from India is around ₹3.5 lakh per person, though this can vary depending on the package and travel arrangements chosen, with some estimates placing the cost as high as ₹4 lakh per person.
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