Iran to Send Medics to Saudi Arabia to Serve Umrah Pilgrims

IQNA – Iran will dispatch physicians to Saudi Arabia to serve the country’s Umrah pilgrims, an official said.

Head of the Iran Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Pir-Hossein Koulivand said the number of doctors to be sent to the Arab country will depend on the number of Iranian pilgrims going on the spiritual journey.  

He said the IRCS is working with Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization to coordinate plans for providing medical and health services to the pilgrims.

The registration and selection of doctors for the Umrah pilgrimage teams have already been conducted, he said, adding that they will be stationed in Iranian clinics in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

If the number of Iranian pilgrims increases, the number of clinics and medical teams will also increase proportionally, he stated.

Koulivand also referred to the activities of the Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Medical Center during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage and described the performance of the center as very successful.

The Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization of Iran on September 7 announced the launch of registration for those wishing to go on the Umrah pilgrimage.

The organization said the pilgrims will be sent to Saudi Arabia in two stages, with the first starting on September 18 and ending on December 20.

Back in April, the first batch of Umrah pilgrims from Iran embarked on the spiritual journey to Mecca after a 10-year hiatus.

Earlier, Head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Seyed Abbas Hosseini said 5.7 million Iranians are in line waiting for their turn to take part in Umrah pilgrimage, adding that the organization is ready to send between 800,000 and 1 million pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah every year if the conditions are right and other related bodies provide the necessary cooperation.

Umrah differs from Hajj in that the latter is a lengthier visit which is done once a year and performed once in a lifetime by able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.

Iran stopped sending Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia after two Iranian teenage boys were harassed in an airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah in March 2015.

That came nearly a year before the two countries cut their diplomatic relations.

Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties in March 2023 through a China-mediated agreement, marking a significant development after severing relations in 2016.

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