In a bid to promote transparency and reposition activities of the national medical team, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), on Thursday, inaugurated a committee to review the operation of the team for the coming 2024 Hajj.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 15-man committee at the Hajj House in Abuja, NAHCIN Acting Chairman/ CEO, Malam Jalal Ahmad Arabi, said the medical team was crucial to Hajj performance, adding, however, that some of its process and procedures had become archaic and obsolete.
He submitted that there was a need to inject new ideas into the implementation of the team’s tasks as well as explore other ways to reposition its activities.
According to Arabi, “The national medical team is so important in the performance of Hajj activities. It is fairly disturbing that some of its process and procedure needs to be tinker with if we must achieve better results.
“We need to inject new ideas in the way its tasks is being implemented as some of its process and procedure have become archaic and obsolete.
“As with all human endeavor, the team have faced overwhelming challenges. Therefore, we need to think outside the box and explore other ways. Though adventurous, but it is the only way we can reposition their activities.”
While expressing his trust and confidence in the committee members, the NAHCON CEO advised them to be flexible and follow the extant regulations/guidelines.
He further urged members to put their expertise into play with a view to achieving maximum results, adding that they should not fail all.
“In tinkering with the guidelines, please take cognizance of the extant rules so that we can achieve maximum results.
“With your expertise, background and disposition and having proven yourself in the past, so much is expected from you and I believe you won’t fail us,” Arabi said.
Responding, the committee chairman, Dr Saidu Ahmed Dumbulwa, expressed delight with their appointments and assured that the team would come up with robust, comprehensive, and simple guidelines that would ensure that Nigerian pilgrims were served satisfactorily.
According to NAHCON Deputy Director, Information and Publications, Mousa Ubandawaki, the committee’s terms of reference, among others, include evaluating the effectiveness and identifying the shortcomings in the current national medical team guidelines; to analyse and assess the roles of relevant stakeholders in Nigeria and their key contributions in the context of national medical team operations.
Ubandawaki informed that the review committee had two weeks to submit its recommendations.
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