Pre-Haj operation concludes today

The pre-Haj operation to airlift 150,000 intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will conclude with the departure of last Haj flight PK-1731 carrying 435 passengers on-board to Jeddah from the Federal Capital on Wednesday.
The operation continued for a month in which 150,000 intending pilgrims were airlifted to the Holy Land by 463 special Haj flights.
The special flights were also being operated from airports at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Sukkur and Faisalabad.
The pilgrims from Sukkur reached Jeddah via Karachi while Haj flights from Multan and Faisalabad airports departed to Jeddah via Lahore.
According to official sources in the Ministry of Religious Affairs here on Tuesday about 150,000 intending pilgrims will perform Haj-2006 from Pakistan of them, 90,000 were sent under government scheme while remaining 60,000 were brought to Saudi Arabia by private Haj organisers.
He informed that buildings to accommodate 90,000 pilgrims who applied under government scheme have already been arranged in Makkah and Madina.
As many as 46,000 intending pilgrims have opted for green category accommodation while 44,000 have availed white category.
The ministry, he said, has set up hospitals and dispensaries with latest equipment at Pakistan Houses in Makkah and Madina for treatment of intending pilgrims who are in Saudi Arabia for performance of Haj-2006.
"A 40-bed hospital in Makkah and a similar hospital in Madina are providing ample medical facilities to ailing pilgrims there," he added.
In addition to hospitals, 14 dispensaries have also been set up in various places of the Holy cities for treatment of Pakistani pilgrims, he added.
A 250-member medical mission comprising doctors and paramedics from civil and army hospitals headed by a colonel has been deployed in these hospitals and dispensaries which would be available round the clock.
"We have also sent various types of medicines amounting to Rs 850,000 and there would not be any shortage of medicines for pilgrims," he added.
He said the pilgrims from Afghanistan and China were also vaccinated against meningitis.
About total deaths, he said so far as many as 50 Pakistani pilgrims have died owing to natural causes and accidents before Haj in Saudi Arabia.