A total of 19,832 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel have applied for the 140 national medical team slots for 2024 hajj, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) revealed on Monday.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that the medical team (NMT) is one of the NAHCON’s most sensitive operational committees after that of aviation.
The medical team will serve about 65,047 Nigerian pilgrims from both public and private sectors who are billed to participate in this year’s hajj.
Flynas, a Saudi-designated Nigerian hajj carrier, would perform the inaugural flight on Wednesday, by airlifting the first batch of Nigerian pilgrims from Kebbi State.
A statement by the hajj commission’s assistant director for public affairs, Fatima Sanda Usara, said 19,823 medical personnel have applied for the 140 slots within two weeks.
On February 12, 2024, NAHCON launched the NMT portal inviting interested candidates willing to volunteer their medical services for the 2024 Hajj pilgrims to register on the portal within two weeks.
“Out of this total only 7,532 scaled the first screening test of submitting duly completed e-forms,” Mrs Usara said.
By the end of the deadline, of the 7,532 correctly submitted applications, 1,295 applicants were dropped for selecting a payment option for their medical services instead of volunteerism as requested, while another five were also dropped for failure to indicate their choice of whether volunteerism or for a fee, she said.
Another 1,307 applicants were disqualified after indicating that they had participated in the medical team within the last three hajj seasons.
“On the other hand, NAHCON’s data revealed another 175 applicants who either concealed their participation in the previous years or gave false information on that claim. A breakdown showed 37 of them participated in the 2019 NMT, 60 participated in the 2022 medical team and 78 were members of the 2023 National Medical Team. They were eliminated,” Mrs Usara said.
Also, 135 applicants were eliminated based on age, while 43 were rejected for submitting multiple applications.
Only 4,861 eventually scaled the second round of screening, according to her.
She said of the 4,861 successful candidates, only 140 would be shortlisted according to the official medical quota allocated to the country by Saudi Arabia.
This newspaper learned that the NMT comprises 60 percent workforce selected and presented by the various states’ pilgrims welfare boards from the state level, while NAHCON contributes only 40 percent of the medical staff.
The medical team will be working under three major clinics in Makkah and one in Madinah which is located on Quran Street.
In Makkah, the Main Office is in Masfala Kudei, where most pilgrims are accommodated. The two other major clinics are in Al-Tayseer and Masfala Shari Hijr.
