T

he Religious Affairs Ministry is set to send 210,000 pilgrims on the haj this year, despite reports of a rise in influenza A cases in Saudi Arabia.

The ministry's director of haj finance management, Abdul Ghafur Djawahir, said Monday he would work closely with the Health Ministry to take measures to protect the pilgrims, who are bound to meet and interact with around 3 million others from more than 160 countries.

"We're going to meet Wednesday to discuss the steps we should take ahead of the pilgrimage," Abdul told The Jakarta Post.

"Interactions with other pilgrims are inevitable, and what the ministry can do is make sure every traveling pilgrim leaves in good health."

Wednesday's meeting with the Health Ministry, he went on, would discuss vaccinating the pilgrims against the H1N1 strain of flu.

"There is a possibility the Saudi Arabian government will require all pilgrims to take an H1N1 vaccination to be able to go on the haj," Abdul said.

"So we must prepare the vaccine immediately."

However, the Health Ministry's director general of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said no such requirement would be imposed during this year's pilgrimage season.

"I received a letter from the Saudi Arabian government, saying they only required the pilgrims to take meningitis vaccines," he said.

"Besides, no H1N1 vaccine has been produced. We'll see one in September, but we have to test it first to gauge it's effectiveness.

"Only then we can administer the vaccine."

Other countries with Muslim citizens are also reportedly not being deterred from sending their pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year amid fears of the H1N1 flu pandemic.

However, many are urging children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions to refrain from undertaking the annual pilgrimage.

In Indonesia, Abdul said, children and pregnant women were already banned from going on the state-sponsored haj, due to the long waiting list that this year alone has seen around 820,000 people apply.

"The elderly and the unfit may still be allowed to go, but a tighter policy will be applied in their cases," he said, but did not go into details.

Abdul also said the Religious Affairs Ministry had always provided pilgrims with face masks.

"Usually the pilgrims only use the masks when they are in the Arafah field and Mina, which are dusty places," he said.

"But this year, we're urging them to wear it whenever they leave their accommodations."

He also urged all pilgrims to stay updated on all the latest information released by the Health Ministry on how to avoid catching the H1N1 virus.

The Health Ministry's Tjandra said his office would not send more medical workers to clinics and hospitals for pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, because the authorities there had imposed a quota for foreign medical workers.

The clinics and hospitals have around 360 medical workers. That number, he said, was sufficient to serve Indonesian pilgrims.

Abdul, however, pledged to have more doctors with skills in treating patients with the H1N1 flu placed at the clinics and hospitals.

Meanwhile, the H1N1 infection rate in Indonesia has risen yet again.

Tjandra said the number of patients with the new strain of flu in the country had reached 172, with no fatalities.