The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has expressed worry over the way some pilgrims visit clinics to collect drugs because they are free.
The concern was raised when a NAHCON’s delegation comprising board members, senior management staff and journalists on Sunday, August 18 visited seven Nigerian clinics within Makkah to assess the level of their operations.
Chief Doctor, Dr Usman Galadima, took the team, headed by board member representing Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Nura Rimi, round the clinics to ascertain the arrangements for themselves.
The NAHCON’s Head of Public Affairs Fatima Sanda Usara said in a statement issued on Thursday that the team observed that unless Nigerians adjusted their mentality of rushing for freebies, real patients that deserved serious medical attention would continue to suffer the consequences of some few individuals’ greed.
Usara said the team was preparing reports and recommendations on how best to tackle the problem of over crowdedness at clinics to reduce waiting period.
She, however, said that serious enlightenment by well meaning Nigerians might help to change the mentality of those looking for free drugs.
The NAHCON’s spokesperson said the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System aided the commission to track many of the drug collectors and appropriate action taken to apprehend them and others.
She said some of them confessed after they were subjected to serious diagnostic steps.
Usara said the team discovered that drugs that are constantly replenished are analgesics, anti-malarial drugs; upper respiratory track drugs such as cough syrup and antibiotics, as well as gastro-intestinal drugs like antacids.
At the end of the visit, the leader of the delegation expressed delight at the strategies put in place for the healthcare of Nigerian pilgrims.
He prayed the Almighty to reward them tremendously because no amount will compensate the sacrifices they collectively make for the wellbeing of the Nigerian pilgrim.
Meanwhile, 4,132 Nigerian pilgrims from Lagos, Katsina, Kano, Oyo, Kogi, Zamfara, Kebbi, Cross River, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Ogun States have been airlifted back to Nigeria within a total of nine flights that took off from the King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah.
The return journey of about 65,000 Nigerian pilgrims who performed this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia started last Saturday, August 17, 2019.
