Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to Evaluate City Tour Program Causing Pilgrim Fatigue

Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (Kemenhaj) will evaluate the city tour programme following indications of fatigue experienced by some pilgrims due to packed activities before and after the peak of the Hajj rituals.

“We are observing again that after Armuzna (Arafah, Muzdalifah, and Mina), many are immediately taken on city tours, taken here and there, which makes them tired, so we will evaluate our policy on city tours,” said Minister of Hajj and Umrah Mochamad Irfan Yusuf at Soekarno Hatta Airport, Tangerang, on Tuesday.

Minister Irfan noted that a number of pilgrims were known to participate in visits to various locations both before and after completing the Armuzna series. These activities include trips to several destinations outside Makkah, such as Thaif and Jeddah.

According to him, this condition warrants attention as it could potentially affect the health of pilgrims, especially considering the high level of fatigue after undergoing the dense series of Hajj rituals.

The Minister stressed that the health and safety of pilgrims will be the primary consideration in formulating policies for the organisation of the Hajj pilgrimage in the coming season.

He stated that to date, 350 people have died in Saudi Arabia. The majority of these deaths were due to pneumonia and fatigue factors caused by strenuous activities without being accompanied by prime physical condition.

In addition, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah will also strengthen health fitness (istitha’ah) requirements in an effort to reduce the number of hospitalisations and deaths, which currently remain high.

“We have had health istitha’ah standards all along, but we acknowledge there are differences in implementation across regions. Some regions implement it well, others less so, making this one of our tasks to standardise our health istitha’ah standards,” said Minister Irfan.