E-government and logistical health services during Hajj season

Abstract

BackgroundEvery year millions of Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj pilgrimage Aligned with the Kingdom's 2030 vision, the Ministry of Health works to provide advanced free medical services to pilgrims by implementing digital transformation. Hajj service providing companies are concerned with offering high-quality logistical services and removing obstacles that may face the pilgrims including those related to health and safety. In order to integrate healthcare applications with effectiveness, there is a need to have a unified electronic platform.ResultsThis paper uses both primary and secondary data. The primary data collection has been done through an electronic survey and interviews with a number of employees working for Hajj and Umrah companies and an interview an employee in the health sector to support logistics health services. The secondary data have been collected through analyzing the official website of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.ConclusionFindings suggest that there is a lack of an integrating electronic interface of different applications that are provided by the companies involved and it is recommend that a unified medical database established as this could provide several benefits including informed decision-making, tracking of pilgrim’s health status, and increased user satisfaction.