The Chairman/CEO, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, has advised members of the National Medical Team for the 2023 Hajj to abide by the medical rules of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while operating in the Holy Land during the forthcoming Hajj.
Hassan gave the advice on Thursday while inaugurating the medical team at the Hajj House, Abuja, adding that members should know that they are favoured by Allah to be selected and as such must see the service they will render as amanah (trust).
While informing that over 10,000 medical personnel applied to service on the national medical team this year, Hassan said only 230 were selected, adding that the lucky ones must brace up for the bigger tasks ahead of them.
According to the NAHCON boss, “There is going to be much work this year. Unlike last year, this year Nigeria has our full 95,000 slots restored to us. So, the work will be much than what obtained last year.
“Your service to the Nigerian pilgrims is an amanah (trust) just as your service to your patients in Nigeria.”
The chairman said as much as the Hajj body was ready to pay all allowances the personnel on the team were entitled to, the commission would not tolerate any excuses from them.
Speaking early, the Chairman of the NMT, Sheikh Suleman Momoh, informed that members passed through rigorous screening processes, saying that in view of the tough processes, the medical personnel had to display their capacity.
Momoh, who is also NAHCON’s Commissioner Planning, Research, Statistics and Library Services, warned that the commission would not accept any form of excuses from the medical team members for leaving their duty posts during this year’s Hajj, declaring that the life every Nigerian pilgrim matters.
According to him, the medical personnel had the opportunity to decline their selection now that they were yet to go to Saudi Arabia in order for the commission to find replacements for them.
He submitted that the medical services they were going to render for Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia was not one any one of them was going to push their rank instead of doing what was expected of them.
“This work is not one to push rank. We have to put our ranks somewhere so that we have to do this work. If you are a CMD or hold a very big rank in the ministry and cannot work under a person of lower rank, please decline this work now,” Momoh said.
In his remarks at the event, NAHCON board member representing the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Baba Ahmed, urged members of the team to see their selection to serve in the national medical team as a call to duty.
Dr Ahmed advised members to abide by the code of ethics of the medical profession, which he said they had to uphold at all times, adding that they should discharge their duty as professionals.
While calling on them to see their selection as an act of God, the Ministry of Health representative, however, warned that anyone found wanting in the discharge of their duty would be sanctioned appropriately.