Baghdad – WAA
Minister of Health Saleh Mahdi Al-Hasnawi confirmed today, Monday, that the holy city of Karbala will witness millions of people, while he indicated that the ministry has sufficient experience in crowd medicine.
A statement by the ministry, received by the (INA), stated that “Minister of Health Saleh Mahdi Al-Hasnawi, during his visit to the holy Karbala Governorate, was accompanied by a high-level ministerial delegation. He was received by the Director General of Karbala Health, Sabah Al-Moussawi, to follow up on the implementation of the medical plan for the Ashura visit in the governorate, where he was briefed on the progress of implementing the medical support plan for the month of Muharram, the department’s needs and preparations, and the support provided by the health departments in neighboring governorates.”
Al-Hasnawi stressed that “the holy city of Karbala will witness millions of people, which requires great preparation and the health ministry has sufficient experience in crowd medicine,” noting that “a special health operations room has been formed in Karbala to manage the medical support plan for the month of Muharram.”
He pointed out that “health centers have been allocated inside the city of Karbala and converted into emergency wards, to accommodate the numbers in the millions of visits. Hospitals in the governorate have been fully prepared, those close to the governorate center, to be surgical emergencies, and those in the medium distance will be internal emergencies.”
Al-Hasnawi added that “the plan includes the entry of private hospitals and the reception of emergency cases, and their use and management by the Ministry of Health in anticipation of any emergency, in addition to the deployment of rapid response teams in the area between the two holy mosques and critical points, which witness a rush, equipped with protective equipment, complete supplies and small oxygen cylinders for immediate first aid, until the emergency case is transferred to the nearest hospital.”
The Minister explained that “the ambulances were deployed and prepared to work inside the holy Karbala, spread out at intersections, at checkpoints and hospitals, to transport emergency cases and are ready to intervene in the event of any emergency, and health control teams were deployed to monitor random issuance and food and water provided to visitors, and the health procedures followed and the poison team in anticipation of any emergency.”
He explained that “ambulances were also allocated to be deployed at the entrances to Tuwairij on the night of the tenth of Muharram, while the General Company for Marketing Medicines and Medical Supplies equipped Karbala Health with a large reserve of medicines and medical supplies, and prepared medical teams from various specialties and are ready in hospitals.”