Permanent Committee on Pilgrimage to Mecca on drawing board

Accra, Dec. 12, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Saturday said government was working towards the setting up of a permanent committee to oversee the progress of pilgrims to the Holy City of Mecca. He said this was meant to ensure that future pilgrims were insulated from any inconvenience.

Vice President Mahama made this known in an interaction with journalists at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), where he had gone to meet the first batch of the 254 Hajj pilgrims, who had returned to Ghana from Mecca.

The pilgrims formed part of the about 2,600 who left Accra for Hajj 2009.

Touching on the success of this year's Hajj, Vice President Mahama said the determination of President John Evans Atta Mills and the Hajj Committee and other stakeholders were crucial to the success of the pilgrimage. "We have learnt from the experiences of the past years. We are going to review the whole process and see how we can make it even better next year," he said.

The Vice President said he was satisfied with preparations at KIA to welcome the pilgrims, adding that it felt most satisfying to observe that there was a medical facility to ensure that every pilgrim was screened thoroughly.

Dr. Badu Sarkodie of the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service said the pilgrims would be observed during the 10 days of their arrival, which is the incubation period of the swine flu. "We are ensuring that no body comes in with a contagious disease," he said. Eight more flights are expected to ferry back the remaining pilgrims from the Holy city to Ghana till December 17. 12 Dec. 09