Treatment Camp and Patients in Arbaeen Pilgrimage in 2019

Abstract

Introduction: One of the largest religious gatherings in the world is the Arbaeen pilgrimage, which takes place on the 40th day after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the third Shiite Imam. This study was aimed to investigate how to set up the Sahib-al-Zaman treatment camp on the Arbaeen walking route in 2019 and the patients referring to it. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on all patients referring to the Sahib-al-Zaman camp of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran in the Arbaeen Walking plan in 2019. In this study, how to set up camp was described. Patients’ data and drugs used by the medical team were collected, and then were analyzed. Results: Totally, 3477 patients were enrolled. The mean±SD of patients’ age was 33.77±16.19 (ranging from 1 to 96) years, and 2,183 patients (62.78%) were male. Most patients were Iranian (84.5%) and then Iraqi (13.66%), and only 1.84% were from other nationalities. Upper respiratory tract infection (60.2%), low back pain and muscle cramps (17.6%), and blister and need for dressing (12.3%) were the most common chief complaints in the patients. Adult cold pills, acetaminophen (325 mg), and cetirizine (10 mg) were the most commonly prescribed drugs for the patients. Conclusion: Although the data used in this study are not sufficient due to the lack of a pre-created data recording system, the results of this study showed that in addition to the importance and necessity of holding such ceremonies, health issues and facilities should also be considered.

A scoping review of Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca: Mapping the health concerns and proposed solutions

“…Prior to making the Hajj, several vaccinations and vitamin boosters were recommended. Symptom‐based medications as prescribed were allowed with their proper use (Farahmand et al., 2022; Mushi et al., 2021). Health‐risk assessment and management, including technology‐based disease monitoring were included in the current trends regarding protecting their health status (Pane et al., 2019).…”

“…A few studies reported the incidence of death as only 13.89% in this review. There was an incidence rate of about 44 deaths The most common communicable disease during the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca was respiratory tract infection (Alasmari et al, 2020;Farahmand et al, 2022;Mushi et al, 2021). This was followed by several ambiguous infectious symptoms such as cough, fever, and sore throat.…”

“…Those efforts are done to serve all pilgrims and improve the quality of care during the annual Islamic pilgrimage period. Symptom‐based medication and health‐risk assessment were permissible (Farahmand et al., 2022; Mushi et al., 2021; Pane et al., 2019). Although the implementation of technology in surveillance was insufficient, the use of telehealth and wearable devices to remotely monitor and evaluate the pilgrims’ health is promising (Mushi et al., 2021).…”