Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health provides mobile dialysis for Hajj pilgrims

The service will be available 24 hours a day

Saudi Health provides mobile dialysis services for pilgrims. Handout

Read the latest updates on the Hajj pilgrimage here.

The Saudi Ministry of Health said on Thursday it will provide dialysis services for Hajj pilgrims with kidney failure round the clock, serving up to 1,000 patients a day.

The kingdom's dialysis team comprises 57 doctors and 228 nurses.

During the annual pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health steps up its efforts to provide thousands of medical appointments, routine operations and major surgeries for pilgrims free of charge.

This year, ten mobile dialysis units can be used by paramedics and hospital staff where central machines are not available.

Call centre staff can also speak a combined seven languages.

Every year, Saudi Arabia provides free health care to millions of people who arrive for the Hajj pilgrimage, with treatments ranging from simple check-ups to dentistry and life-saving heart surgery.

Hospitals and health centres in Saudi Arabia performed eight open-heart surgeries on Thursday, as more than 450 pilgrims sought medical care on the first day of Hajj.

As well as open-heart surgery, doctors performed 108 cardiac catheterisations, dialysis for 313 patients, nine endoscopic operations, and 177 other surgeries, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.

As well as in-person care, they provided virtual diagnoses of four strokes and worked on one remote critical care case and six remote radiology cases via the government consultation app.

More than 43,000 patients have benefited from these services in Makkah and Madinah this year, the ministry said.

Twenty-three hospitals and 147 health centres are providing services to pilgrims.