Hojjat al-Islam Navvab;
Hajj 1403 witnesses innovations in various cultural and executive sectors

According to the Hajj information base, the last meeting of Planning and Coordination Council of hajj and pilgrimage organization and Supreme Leader Delegation Office was held in Medina on Wednesday, Tir 20^th, with the presence of Supreme Leader's representative in Hajj and Pilgrimage affairs and head of the Iranian Pilgrims Hojjat al-Islam Seyed Abdolfattah Navvab, head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Mr. Seyyed Abbas Hosseini and a number of deputies and managers of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization and Supreme Leader’s mission and also Consul General of our country in Jeddah.

At the beginning of this meeting, Hojjat al-Islam Navvab said: fortunately, this year's Hajj season, due to the intense heat that we witnessed, went much better than the predictions and this year, in terms of quantity and quality, we witnessed the innovation and growth of programs in various cultural, therapeutic and executive sectors.

In another part of his speech, head of the Iranian pilgrims emphasized on the necessity of developing guidelines and lifestyle in the two holy shrines and said: If these guidelines are prepared, many of pilgrims will not suffer from digestive diseases, colds, etc.

In the continuation of this meeting, head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Mr. Hosseini said: we have seen a much better situation this year in various executive departments, including in accommodation in Arafat, compared to previous years.

For next year's Hajj season, negotiations have been held for 85% of accommodation, of which 40% have led to the drafting of a memorandum of understanding, he added.

Referring to the Umrah trips, head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization also said: follow-ups in this field are being carried out in various departments and negotiations have been held with the Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines (Iran Air), but the exact date of the Umrah departure cannot be announced yet.

Referring to the beginning of registration process of Arbaeen Hosseini, Mr. Hosseini also said: registration of Arbaeen pilgrims have been started on Sunday (Tir 17^th) and so far 60,000 people have registered in the Hajj and Pilgrimage system.

Head of the Medina headquarters Mr. Ali Asghari also presented at the meeting a report on the latest situation of pilgrims in Medina and said: currently, there are about 5,000 pilgrims in Medina, and the last group of these pilgrims will leave Medina in the morning of Tir 23th in the form of a group of 50 people, along with staff and executive staff.

Dispatching “Medina after” pilgrims from Mecca to the city of the Prophet (PBUH) began on Khordad 31th and continued until Tir 17^th, and currently, out of a total of 19 hotels for Iranian pilgrims, 11 hotels have been evacuated and 8 remaining hotel will be evacuated until Tir 23the, he added.

Mr. Asghari considered transferring Zamzam water to Iran as one of the most important concerns of pilgrims in Medina and called for taking appropriate measures to solve this problem in the coming years.

Director of Hajj operations and head of the Mecca headquarters in Hajj 1403, also said in this meeting: Preliminary work for the Umrah pilgrimage, including accommodation, transportation, food and logistics, and the aviation issue, has been completed, and preliminary negotiations for renting hotels have also begun in Medina and all 19 hotels where Iranian pilgrims had accommodation in Hajj al-Tamattu’ 1403 are ready to cooperate with Iran for Umrah as well.

Iran Air has been announced that it is able to transport pilgrims to Saudi Arabia in the form of 4 daily flights until the start of Hajj season next year, he added.

Hojjat al-Islam Akhavian also presented at the meeting a report on the cultural programs and the level of pilgrims’ satisfaction with cultural programs of Supreme Leader’s mission and said: fondness and Quran circles, fondness and knowledge circles, narration meetings (Medina studies and Mecca studies), Surah Hamad interpretation competitions of the Supreme Leader and the book of "Abrahimology" was one of the cultural programs of Supreme Leader’s mission in this year's Hajj, which fortunately met with the pilgrims' satisfaction.

Chairman of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Medical Center Fazel Shirkhani also presented a report on the activities of special clinics for Iranian pilgrims in Medina and said: a total of 68,134 pilgrims used the services of these clinics, including general and specialized visits and injections, and 14 pilgrims also underwent surgery.

He further added: currently, 4 Iranian pilgrims are hospitalized in Saudi hospitals in Medina.

At this meeting, through online communication with a number of officials and employees of Hajj and Pilgrimage organization in Tehran, the latest follow-ups regarding the consultation with Iran Air for transporting Umrah pilgrims, the software of Hajj and Pilgrimage organization in nutrition and also preparation and editing of educational videos for Umrah travel agents were discussed and reviewed.