TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has commended the Iranian Red Crescent Society’s (IRCS) services provided to people during the Arbaeen pilgrimage.

“The number of referrals to the IRCS clinic in Iraq is very high,” Araghchi said, adding that from 3:00 to 9:00 am, some 800 pilgrims visited the center, and the number of patients would even reach 4,000 during the day.

He made the remarks while paying a visit to a medical center run by the IRCS in the shrine city of Najaf, Iraq.

“They offer a wide range of services, such as visiting patients, administering injections and serums, which is praiseworthy. Words cannot express gratitude and appreciation to the voluntary services,” the IRCS website quoted Araghchi as saying. 

From July 26 to August 14, the IRCS has provided health services to some 4.1 million pilgrims. The IRCS health staff visited 1.05 million patients. About 1.39 million pilgrims have benefitted from para-clinic services (like serum therapy, wound dressing), and 1.6 million others received medicines. During the same period, the IRCS staff also transferred some 249 wounded or dead individuals from Iraq to the country.

Arbaeen, commemorating Imam Hussein’s martyrdom on the 40th day after Ashura, is the world’s largest annual pilgrimage. This year it fell on August 14.

Each year, millions of Shia believers trek the 80-kilometre Najaf–Karbala route in a faith-driven, transnational movement that embodies Islamic unity, solidarity, and the enduring call for justice.

This year, a total of 8,200 rescue workers of the IRCS, including relief workers, physicians, and nurses, will offer services to people in Iraq during the Arbaeen pilgrimage, according to the head of the IRCS.

Moreover, some 7,000 IRCS forces are working in the country on the routes and borders, IRIB quoted Pirhossein Kolivand as saying.

Four hospitals will provide services on the Najaf – Karbala highway. Also, the number of medical mawkibs (voluntary stations) increased in Kabala, Najaf, and Samarra, he added.

Pilgrims will be able to benefit from medical, health, and nutritional consultations through mobile applications free of charge, Kolivand noted.

The official went on to say that the IRCS will use more than 200 special vehicles and ambulances to perform their tasks during the Arbaeen pilgrimage.

Iraq lauds IRCS for services

In August 2024, Iraqi health minister Saleh Mehdi Al-Hasnawi commended the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) for its outstanding efforts to offer services during the Arbaeen pilgrimage.

Meeting an Iranian delegation, led by Kolivand, Al-Hasnawi said, “The Iranian Red Crescent Society’s cooperation with Iraq’s health ministry in providing health services to pilgrims is praiseworthy,” the IRCS website reported.

“Medical services are being carried out in collaboration with the two parties for all the pilgrims, including Iranians and Arabs,” he added.

On August 5, 2024, Iranian and Iraqi officials held a meeting in Baghdad to review and discuss strategies to facilitate the Arbaeen pilgrimage and ensure the safety of pilgrims.

Iran’s Deputy Minister of Interior, Majid Mirahmadi, and Kolivand, in a meeting with the Iraqi Minister of Interior, Abdul Amir al-Shammari, followed up on the latest arrangements made regarding the Arbaeen pilgrimage. 

During the meeting, the Iranian officials obtained permission to operate IRCS rescue helicopters as well as ambulances and bring necessary medicine and equipment to provide medical services to pilgrims.

MT/MG