Move due to reduced demand and better Saudi healthcare rather than cost-cutting, Foreign Office says
People leave the Grand Mosque in Mecca during the hajj. British pilgrims will no longer have a dedicated medical team. Photograph: Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP
The Foreign Office has denied scrapping its medical delegation to the Islamic annual pilgrimage as part of a cost-cutting drive, saying it made the decision because of a declining demand for the service and an improvement in local healthcare facilities.
More than 25,000 Britons are due to travel to Saudi Arabia for the hajj in the next few weeks and groups representing them fear that the absence of a dedicated team from the UK will have far-reaching effects on individuals, their communities and work colleagues, and even the NHS.
For the past 11 years the Foreign Office has paid for the flights and accommodation of about eight GPs, who have treated thousands of people over three weeks. They are not paid for their work, taking annual leave or privately funding other doctors to cover their surgery work. The medical team treated 5,967 Britons in 2007 and 2,504 last year.
Dr Mohammed Jiva, who has been part of the medical team for five years, said: "Although the Saudi authorities provide healthcare facilities during the hajj period, we have been aware of concerns related to access to healthcare as all the pilgrims from throughout the world would rely on the Saudi facilities.
"There is no home-visiting service equivalent to what the British hajj delegation provided for those pilgrims too ill to travel and reflecting on a major incident a few years ago which resulted in mortalities as well as amputations and severe injuries, the Saudi facilities did not have the manpower or facilities to look after these pilgrims in the community. The delegation undertook clinic and home visits to support and change dressings whilst the pilgrims completed their hajj."
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/06/hajj-medical-team-uk-scrapped
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