Doctors on call at airports as pilgrims leave for Haj

Dubai/Sharjah: Doctors are on call at Dubai International Airport, attending to the plane-loads of pilgrims leaving on the first flights to Makkah and Madinah.

Elderly pilgrims could be seen in the crowd despite advisories from health ministers of Arab nations that the aged and the young should not go on the pilgrimage this year, as precautionary measures against the H1N1 virus.

A thermal scanner has been put in place — anyone with a temperature higher than 38.5 degree Celsius is sent to a confinement area.

About 6,000 pilgrims are expected to leave from Dubai, with the last Haj flight from Dubai on November 26.

It has also been announced that employees of the local government departments in Sharjah will receive their November salaries before Eid Al Adha.

The move is in line with the instructions of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, to provide the best services for nationals and residents.

— With additional inputs from WAM