The World Hajj and Umrah Care Foundation is working with more than 200 institutions and partners for a new safety mechanism through the implementation of the Hajj and Umrah Safe Corridor programme.
This mechanism would be installed in 25 countries worldwide to cater for the health and safety of pilgrims in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pilgrimage for Hajj and Umrah had been significantly restricted for the past two years since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019.
In a statement by Mohsin Tutla, Chairman of the WHUCF, said that this was a momentous effort to help rejuvenate the recovery process of the Hajj and Umrah sector.
He said that the organisation had developed new initiatives to educate and re-train industry professionals, developing packages suitable for pandemic pilgrimages and introducing vigilance technologies to preserve high standards of health protocols.
He said, “The sequential dismantling of international Hajj and Umrah companies’ performance capabilities is a result of the lack of information, strategic leadership both at home and from Saudi Arabia and the organisations inert inability to self-determine the best course of action to safeguard their finances and resources.
“Hajj and Umrah companies over the decades working with Saudi Arabian counterparts had perfected the art of meeting the requirements of regulations issued by Saudi Arabia and by their own governments, when preparing for the pilgrimage, this seamless synchronisation has been disrupted by the Pandemic.
“This shift has recalibrated the landscape on how Hajj and Umrah is planned and how the services are to be provided.
Where the international community was listening to the directions of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, they began to monitor the inclinations of the Saudi Ministry of Health.”
Tutla said that the WHUCF would be positioned to serve all categories of pilgrims coming from across the globe with the new mechanism and trainings given to members in order to exploit the challenges of the pandemic.
He said that technology and innovation would be deployed appropriately for this, adding that such would allow members recoup financial losses.
He added that the organisation would be proactive in rendering services to waiting and willing Muslim faithful who have money or have saved for the religious rites of Hajj and Umrah over the years.
He said the foundation has put up a website http://www.whucfoundation.org for easy access to pilgrims and travel tour operators as well as a starting point of creating Hajj with technical support.
NAN
