Medical checkup for pilgrims to be tighter<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to tighten the medical
\ncheckup of anyone planning to join the haj pilgrimage next year.<\/p>\n
Welcoming the last batch of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia at
\nHalim Perdanakusuma airport yesterday, Minister of Religious
\nAffairs Tarmizi Taher said the 765 Indonesian pilgrims who died
\nin this year's pilgrimage was quite a high figure.<\/p>\n
To reduce the number of fatalities next year, the government
\nwould tighten the medical examinations of would-be pilgrims,
\nespecially for the elderly, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Only the healthy ones deserve to perform the haj,\" he said at
\nthe airport, giving his evaluation of the operation to bring home
\nnearly 200,000 Indonesian pilgrims.<\/p>\n
Also present at the welcoming ceremony were Minister of
\nTransportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, Saudi Arabia Ambassador
\nAbdullah A. Alim and Jakarta Deputy governor R.S. Museno.<\/p>\n
Lung and heart diseases were said to be the chief cause of
\ndeaths among Indonesians in this year's pilgrimage. The majority
\nwere aged above 60 years old. In comparison, 570 of 196,000
\nIndonesian pilgrims died last year.<\/p>\n
Tarmizi, on behalf of the government, expressed his
\ncondolences to the relatives of the deceased pilgrims and said he
\nwould pray to Allah that they would become martyrs.<\/p>\n
The minister, whose office coordinates the massive operation
\nto send and bring home Indonesian haj pilgrims each year,
\ncriticized the national carrier Garuda Indonesia for the long
\ndelays of many of its flights during the returning operation.<\/p>\n
He said he had sent Garuda a letter demanding improvement in
\nservices next year.<\/p>\n
The government pays Garuda Rp 800 billion ($333 million) every
\nyear for the haj flight services, making it the airline's biggest
\nclient, he said. \"Garuda should pay greater attention to the
\nneeds of pilgrims by improving its services,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Garuda operated 470 flights to take the pilgrims to Saudi
\nArabia and 454 to bring them home.<\/p>\n
Haryanto said that overall there was an improvement in
\nGaruda's efforts to minimize flight delays. This year, the delays
\naffected 8.3 percent of all flights compared to 12.21 percent
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
The delays occurred during the returning operation, mostly due
\nto technical problems with the planes, he said.<\/p>\n
He said the long delays, sometimes up to 27 hours, was not
\nacceptable. \"This should be a lesson (for Garuda) that it won't
\nhappen again next year,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said Garuda would look into the problem of lost luggage
\nwhich also undermined this year's operation.<\/p>\n
As the haj operation wound up yesterday, there were still 800
\nunclaimed bags at Building III of the Pondok Gede haj dormitory.
\n(11)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/medical-checkup-for-pilgrims-to-be-tighter-1447893297",
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