Coordinating Minister For Human Development And Culture Opens Discourse On Banning Going To Hajj More Than Once For The Sake Of Pangkas, Long Queues

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy. (ANTARA/HO-Kemenko PMK)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy opened the discourse of prohibiting people from going to Hajj more than once to cut queues.

"The more elderly because of the long queue," said Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy in a statement quoted by ANTARA, Friday, August 25.

Based on data on the implementation of the 2023 Hajj, 43.78 percent of pilgrims out of 22,900 Hajj participants are over 60 years old. Meanwhile, Indonesian pilgrims who died reached 774 people or 3.38 percent with the majority aged.

From this data, elderly Hajj participants have a 7.1 times greater risk of dying than non-elderly pilgrims.

The most causes of death are sepsis (infection that causes organ failure), cardiovascular shock (heart failure to pump blood), andappropriation heart disease.

Coordinating Minister Muhadjir assessed that the obligation of Hajj for those who can afford it is only once, while the next opportunity must be given to people who have not performed the pilgrimage.

With these efforts, he hopes to reduce the queues and provide opportunities for people who have not had the pilgrimage before they age.

"This discourse needs to be discussed because the aging pilgrims have implications for health," said Coordinating Minister Muhadjir Effendy.

Therefore, he encouraged related parties to transform the implementation of Hajj so that they can maintain the health of the congregation during worship until they return to their respective homes.

Previously, the Consul for Hajj at the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah Nasrullah Jasam informed that since August 5, 2023 until now there have been 26 Indonesian Hajj participants who have died in Saudi Arabia.

Operational Hajj 1444 H was declared over by Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on August 5, 2023. At that time it was recorded that there were still 77 Indonesian Hajj participants being treated at the Saudi Arabian Hospital. Of that number, 26 people died and eight others have been allowed to return to their homeland.