Medical Mission Considers Disciplinary Actions Against States Allowing Advanced Pregnant Women To Participate In Hajj

Eko Hot Blog reports that The Nigerian Medical Mission to Saudi Arabia for this year’s hajj has recommended sanctions against states with high numbers of advanced pregnant women approved as pilgrims.

The Chief of Operations and Head of the mission, Dr. Usman Galadima, made the recommendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Makkah.

NAN reports that the mission was constituted by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) with a view to providing quality healthcare services to Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia throughout the hajj period.

Galadima said the mission had recorded cases of expectant mothers participating in pilgrimage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, despite sustained efforts and awareness to prevent them from going for hajj.

He said a Nigerian pilgrim had delivered a seven-month-old baby through cesarean section in Madina.

The head of the medical mission added that there were other cases of miscarriages which could have been prevented if the affected women had registered for antenatal at the mission’s clinic.

Galadima called for a strong commitment from all hajj stakeholders to curtail the rate of expectant mothers approved for pilgrimage.

According to him, any woman that wants to come on pilgrimage should plan well including avoidance of getting pregnant.

He said: “What I will advise is that probably if some punitive measures can be established or be carried out against erring states or states with certain number of advanced pregnancies that were obvious to everybody.

“Probably that will curtail the surge that we are seeing now. So, I think it requires commitment on the side of all the stakeholders.”