Ministry of Hajj establishes the first unit
to attend to pilgrims in Madinah 
Sunday, February 23, 2014
For the first time, the Ministry of Hajj was able to establish a unit to attend to pilgrims and Mu`tamirs in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah to raise the level of the services provided to the guests of the Most Compassionate and to open more effective channels with them. The unit receives complaints, observations, and suggestions around the clock through a number of possible communication channels, which are then passed by the unit specialists to the competent authorities to be addressed as soon as possible. It is one of the institutional arrangements of the branch, which works around the clock, to address the complaints urgently and immediately in coordination with the relevant authorities using administrative tools, different means of communication, and information technology.
Muhammad ibn `Abdul Rahman Al-Bijawi, the General Manager of the branch of the Ministry of Hajj in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, pointed out that the services provided by the unit - which aims at providing a continuous communication channel with the pilgrims and Mu`tamirs, strengthening the ability of the Ministry's branch to achieve the satisfaction of the pilgrims and Mu`tamirs, and improving the operations carried out by the branch - can be summed up as including the receipt of complaints and inquiries of pilgrims and Mu`tamirs regarding the services provided to them while in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. This is in addition to handling the complaints submitted by the pilgrims and Mu`tamirs as well as the receipt of suggestions, which are studied and what is required is then referred to the relevant authorities. Moreover, the aim behind establishing this unit is more than that, as it serves as a thermometer to measure the degree of the satisfaction of the pilgrims and Mu`tamirs with the level of services provided and their quality, from the moment they set foot in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah.
He revealed that there is a strategy of continuous improvement of the unit through the evaluation of its performance by the consultative team for quality and organizational excellence during its working period every season, measuring the satisfaction of the beneficiaries of the unit's services. This is in addition to monitoring the problems faced by the workers while performing their duties, and holding workshops with the unit's staff to analyze problems and find appropriate solutions for them, after which the unit specialists communicate with the complainants through SMSs to measure their satisfaction with the solutions offered. Moreover, the complaints and observations are saved and archived to be analyzed and used for future reference.
He views the unit as one of the reasons of the success of the operational plan for the Hajj season last year, 1434 A.H., of the branch of the Ministry of Hajj in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, which received 1,294,594 pilgrims, i.e. 94% of the total of 1,380,462 pilgrims that came to the Kingdom during this season and who completed their visit easily and safely. This is achieved pursuant to the goals of the branch that is honored to serve the guests of the Most Compassionate, be it pilgrims, Mu`tamirs, or visitors, to achieve the aspirations of King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (may Allah protect him) based on a set of values that takes into account the ethics of the profession, and aspires to achieve perfection and teamwork, and improve work while seeking to acquire the necessary skills to any duties properly.
He pointed out that the plan approved a training program for 636 official and seasonal employees to equip them with necessary skills and expertise through 10 behavior and skill programs that promote values among workers, as 6840 SMSs containing twenty motivational texts were sent during the previous season to present the guests of the Most Compassionate with improved arriving and departing procedures and to eliminate some of the negatives. This was achieved by utilizing the capabilities of the young in such honorable deeds.
Furthermore, he praised the success of the plan to control the movement of crowds through the automatic system for the housing contracts during peak season, to set a maximum limit for the conclusion of the housing contracts in this system, to provide the comprehensive service sites that the branch has recently launched with the requirements of computers, to offer technical support, to receive the delegations of the offices of Hajj Affairs that visit Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and to discuss the arrangements regarding their pilgrims' affairs. All these indicate that the branch of the Ministry of Hajj in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah measures the performance indicators on a daily basis and issues statistics regarding the movement of pilgrims and the most important services provided to them in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah.
He also pointed out that the Ministry's branch in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah is arriving at alternatives to address the failure of the offices of Hajj Affairs and tourism companies to provide housing services entrusted to them for the pilgrims according to the contracts and regulations governing it and through the bank guarantee submitted by them to the Ministry of Hajj pursuant to the regulations adopted to cash it. Moreover, the Ministry's branch oversees the Tafwij (grouping and moving) of pilgrims between the Hajj cities in the administrative boundaries of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah and the international departure ports, checks its adherence to regulations, and monitors any irregularities amid tight supervision of the follow-up processes. The branch also oversees and monitors the pilgrims' service providers to improve their performance and the service quality.
He also revealed the launch of a project to measure the satisfaction of the beneficiaries with the services of the Ministry's branch in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, which is one of the services introduced by the branch among the different projects of the strategic plan. It is a temporary annual process that includes two approaches every year during the term of the strategic plan. The first approach measures the satisfaction of Mu`tamirs visiting the Prophet's Mosque (peace be upon him), and the second approach measures the satisfaction of pilgrims visiting the Prophet's Mosque (peace be upon him). The project is carried out by a national staff of seasonal employees and by measurement tools that have been established in accordance with the elements of service quality framework.
With regard to the overall objectives of the project, he pointed out that it focuses on identifying the needs and expectations of the beneficiaries (pilgrims) during every Hajj season and identifying the gap between their needs and the actual services provided to them. It also focuses on continuous improvement using a scientific methodology and with the participation of the beneficiaries in the process of constantly improving and developing the services provided to them, as well as providing a database to prepare preventive, treatment and development programs and achieving harmony with the quality management systems.
Furthermore, the General Manager of the branch of the Ministry of Hajj in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah has decided to implement the field study to measure the satisfaction of pilgrims with the services provided to them. The study included the premises of the Prophet's Mosque, hotels, residential buildings, airport buses, the station of the land pilgrims and Prince Muhammad ibn Abdul Aziz International Airport as the demographic data of the beneficiaries and targeted pilgrims. Their satisfaction was measured after being collected according to gender, the total number of male pilgrims being 10,143 and the total number of female pilgrims being 6,618 of various Arab and other nationalities.
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