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الوسم: medical supplies

  • Saudi Arabia Uses Drones to Protect Hajj Pilgrims from Heat

    Saudi Arabia Uses Drones to Protect Hajj Pilgrims from Heat

    During this week’s peak temperatures of 45°C in Makkah, Saudi Arabian healthcare professionals have increasingly turned to drones to deliver supplies across numerous clinics caring for heat-exposed pilgrims during Hajj.

    The rituals of Hajj have remained largely unchanged for centuries. However, technological advancements—such as artificial intelligence, drones, and mobile applications—are revolutionizing the pilgrimage experience for both visitors and officials by providing essential services, logistical support, and crowd management solutions.

    Instead of navigating clogged roads with over 1.5 million pilgrims, drones have become a vital tool, ensuring that the 127 clinics distributed across Makkah, Mina, and Arafat stay stocked with medical necessities.

    Fahd Al-Bathi, COO of the National Unified Procurement Company (Nupco), explained, “Our main objective is to deliver swift service to God’s guests during this season.” Preparations for the healthcare needs during Hajj commenced nine months in advance.

    Standing before a color-coded map highlighting medical centers, Nupco’s Turki Al-Obaidi mentioned that his teams operate around the clock during Hajj.

    “Our staff must deliver care promptly, especially with such enormous crowds,” he emphasized.

    Before drones, medical supply drivers sometimes spent over an hour en route to clinics running low on essentials. Now, operations are centralized at a large facility that supplies drones with medicines and other critical items.

    “We’re integrating innovative solutions to ensure the safe, rapid, and high-quality delivery of medical supplies,” said Al-Bathi.

    In the operations center, staff monitor drone routes meticulously on a large data display, while others use electric scooters for quick movement around the site. Drones are just one part of a broader tech-driven effort to manage Hajj more effectively amidst the intense desert heat.

    Artificial intelligence is also employed to oversee footage from thousands of cameras installed throughout Makkah, supplementing traditional cooling methods like giant fans, water trucks, and misting systems aimed at keeping crowds comfortable.

    “Heat exhaustion remains one of the primary concerns during Hajj,” noted a Saudi health official.

  • WHO warns Lebanon’s hospitals may face critical supply shortages in days

    WHO warns Lebanon’s hospitals may face critical supply shortages in days

    Some Lebanese hospitals are on the brink of running out of critical trauma medical supplies within days due to a surge in casualties from recent Israeli airstrikes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday. The depleted supplies include essential items like bandages, antibiotics, and anesthetics used to treat war-related injuries.

    Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO’s representative in Lebanon, warned, “Some trauma management supplies are already running low, and we might exhaust our stock in just a few days.” The violence continues, with Israel targeting more locations in Lebanon following its most intense attacks of the conflict on Wednesday, which resulted in over 250 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries.

    “If another large-scale incident occurs, similar to yesterday’s, it would be disastrous,” Abubakar stated. “We’re likely to lose more lives simply because we do not have enough supplies on hand.” The shortage of trauma kits has been driven by a rapid increase in casualties—mainly civilians—with an estimated three weeks’ worth of supplies consumed in a single day.

    In addition to trauma supplies, medications necessary for chronic illnesses, such as insulin for diabetics, are at risk of running out within weeks. Disrupted supply chains, impacted by the Gulf War and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have complicated the situation further, causing delivery costs to triple. Funding constraints are also hampering relief efforts, the WHO noted.

    To prevent total depletion of stocks, the WHO and Lebanese health authorities are planning to transfer supplies between hospitals, but the strain on the healthcare system remains severe. Since the conflict began on March 2, prompted by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, over a million people have been displaced across Lebanon, according to the United Nations.