DUSHANBE, December 20, 2008, Asia-Plus — Driven by faith, many ailing and elderly Tajik Muslims ignore serious health problems to undertake the Hajj and often pay a heavy price.
According to the department for religious affairs (DRA) within the Ministry of Culture (MoC), three Tajik nationals died during the pilgrimage that is considered one of the five pillars of Islam. “All of them were men at advanced age and they died of heart failure,” the DRA head Idibek Ziyoyev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
In the meantime, Muqimjon Fathulloyev who headed the team of 10 medical workers who accompanied Tajik Muslims during the Hajj said, “The men were over 70 years and two of them died of heart failure, while the third one suffered from ulcer of stomach and he died following perforation.”
According to Fathulloyev, every year, up to 10 Tajik pilgrims die during the Hajj. “This year, we did what we could to provide medical aid to our pilgrims,’ said the physician, “The MoC has allocated 22,000 somoni for purchase of medicines. We have purchased 83 items of different medical preparations.”
According to him, each of 10 doctors was receiving some 50-60 patients per day. “During the Hajj, 4,900 of 5,200 Tajik Muslims participating in this year Hajj took medical advice,” Fathulloyev said, noting some 1 percent of those taking medical advice were dissatisfied with the level of medical service. “However, they suffered because they did not observe doctors’ recommendations,” he said.
Meanwhile, the resident of Dushanbe Abdualif, who participated in the Hajj this year, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that two members of their group – one of them from Dushanbe and another one from Vahdat – had died during the Hajj. According to him, he and other pilgrims are dissatisfied with the level of medical service provided by Tajik doctors during the Hajj. “Our doctors had only ordinary medical preparations such as aspirin and analgin and tonometers with them,”
