Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah will lead the Saudi delegation at an emergency meeting of the Arab health ministers in Cairo on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced here on Monday.The meeting will discuss the procedures and precautionary measures to be taken to combat swine flu and reduce its spread during Haj and Umrah this year.
The other members of the Saudi delegation include Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani, Ziad Al-Memesh, assistant deputy minister of health, and Thaha Melbari, director general of international affairs at the Ministry of Health.
The emergency meeting has been organized by the Cairo-based Regional Office of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO).
Al-Mirghalani told Arab News that 22 countries in the Arab world would discuss issues related to swine flu and its spread in the region.
He said that the Saudi team would present the 15 recommendations concluded at the recent workshop held in Jeddah at which swine flu experts from the World Health Organization and the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC) exchanged opinions concerning the virus.
The recommendations of the workshop are not to send pregnant women pilgrims, children under five and elderly people who are suffering from chronic diseases for Umrah or Haj.
It was recommended that all pilgrims should take the stipulated vaccines at least two weeks prior to their departure for the holy cities.
The workshop also decided to inform the countries that send pilgrims to organize health education programs for their pilgrims in order to create awareness among them.
In a related development, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday that it would no longer send daily reports on the incidence of swine flu in the Kingdom. Since May 29, a total of 294 cases have been reported in the Kingdom and the ministry reiterated that it would keep the public informed.