In an authentic initiative reflecting the depth of Saudi-Emirati brotherhood, partnership and harmony in all fields and at different levels and perspectives, the official account of the Dubai Statistics Center "DSC" in Twitter interacted with the Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Statistics praising their efforts in the exceptional statistical coverage during the recent Hajj season.
DSC's tweeted: "Immense efforts exerted by General Authority for Statistics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the statistical coverage of Hajj season. All due appreciation for our colleagues in the General Authority for Statistics." The Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Statistics promptly replied: "We would like to thank you for your kind feelings our Gulf statistical partners, and congrats for all efforts you are paying in Dubai. General Authority for Statistics' participation to serve pilgrims is an honor, pride and dignity medal for its staff."
Statistical Calendar
DSC's tweet came in recognition of the extraordinary efforts exerted by the General Authority for Statistics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the announcement of the statistical calendar of Hajj 1438 AH corresponding to 2017 AD for the first time. The dissemination of statistics and indicators of various sectors associated with Hajj rituals commenced from 2 to 10 of Dhu Al Hijjah on a daily basis. The Authority dedicated 2nd of Dhu Al Hijjah to disseminate statistics of health and medical services provided to pilgrims, 3rd of Dhu Al Hijjah for statistics of the public services provided to pilgrims, 4th day for statistics of transport services provided to pilgrims, 5th day for ICT services provided to pilgrims, 6-8 Dhu Al Hijjah dedicated for
statistics of Pilgrims coming from outside and inside the Kingdom, 9th day was dedicated to announce the total number of pilgrims, and the 10th day of Dhu Al Hijjah was dedicated to issue the detailed publication of Hajj statistics results.
450 researchers
Through its "Twitter" account, the General Authority for Statistics announced that it had allocated 450 statistical researchers to implement the calendar which aims at achieving eight development goals that support decision makers and policy makers to provide quality care to the pilgrims of the House of Allah. These goals include: estimating the manpower required to serve the pilgrims and secure their safety and comfort annually during the pilgrimage season, providing accurate statistics on the number of internal pilgrims which, when combined with the number of pilgrims coming from abroad, makes up the total number of pilgrims, developing the necessary annual traffic plans including the movement plan and Al Nafrah, completing all future plans for the purpose of securing the necessary services for pilgrims, whether social, health, security, food or transportation services, by using a time series for accurate data on pilgrims' number and recognizing the change in the external pilgrims' means of arrival and using them for internal pilgrims.
Proper Services for Pilgrims
In actual implementation of Hajj statistical calendar items, the Authority revealed that more than 51,700 employees from 22 government authorities in the Kingdom had been working around the clock to serve pilgrims offering up to 123 services for them. The total number of manpower working in the health sector serving pilgrims was 30,000 and more than 550 emergency teams and 135 health centers supported by 888 vehicles and 65 motorbikes.
The number of field staff from Makkah tasked to follow-up and coordinate with these authorities reached 200 employees, more than 400 employees from Medina region were also tasked to follow-up and coordinate with governmental, civil, charitable and volunteer agencies and more than 14,000 employees from the Makkah Region Development Authority and 488 vehicles to supervise the pedestrian's routs and cover them with shades and turning down the temperature inside the sacred places. In the meantime, the number of employees of the General Directorate of Passports tasked to make the ports ready to receive the pilgrims at the Kingdom's ports and to welcome them reached 4,4470 employees, while the pilgrims were being served by 1,600 employees of the General Customs.