Outpatient Services during (1423h) Hajj Season

Objective: to analyse the pattern of patients attending the out patient department (opd) during the hajj season 1423 h with respect to their age, sex, nationality, services provided to them, and most importantly the disease trends and the medicationgiven. method: a descriptive study was done at the opd department in al-noor specialist hospital, holy makkah for the 15 daysperiod of the hajj, i.e., 1-15 /12/1423 corresponding to 2-16/ 02/2003. all patients who arrived at the opd during that time whether onhajj or non-hajj and those who registered at opd service became part of our study. with the help of standard ¡§blue form¡¨(providedannually by ministry of health exclusively for the opd patients for every hajj season), their age, sex, nationality, clinics attended,diagnosis and medications were noted. results: the results revealed that 3876 patients arrived and 3856 got registration at opd. of the registered cases, 1282 (33%) were hajj patients and of those 873 (22%) were males. the hajj patients were mostly non-saudi (30.8%).the majority of patients, 384 (26.1%), were from the middle east. the largest category, 240 (6.2%), of hajj patients were in the age range 51-60 years. the medical clinic was the one attended by the maximum number of patients, 1675 (43.4%), and respiratory disease cases,1582 (41%), were the commonest. single medication as monotherapy accounted for 3644 (94.5%) of patients. conclusion: non-hajjpatients were in the majority at opd. respiratory diseases were the commonest complaints. this study highlights a precarious situationduring the hajj where cross-infection proliferates in a dense population. effective services and preventative measures need to becontemplated in the light of the present finding.