TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Religious Affairs has said that the manasik (practice run) for the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage will not only focus on the practice of prayers, but also include physical training.

"The orientation of our manasik so far has been more toward reading and memorizing prayers. We are trying to introduce physical training. Before performing the manasik, people will be asked to walk first," the ministry's director of Hajj development, Arsad Hidayat, said on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

According to him, apart from praying, Hajj also involves physical activities. Therefore, Hajj pilgrims need to build their physical preparedness for the Hajj pilgrimage.

The physical preparedness of pilgrims will be related to their health istithaah (capabilities), which will be one of the concerns of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in carrying out operational preparations for the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage.

The ministry's Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah has carried out a mudzakarah (symposium), which specifically discussed the health istithaah requirements of prospective Hajj pilgrims.

According to Hidayat, the Hajj mudzakarah resulted in nine recommendations and emphasized the strengthening of the health istithaah of prospective Hajj pilgrims.

One of the recommendations was that the Ministry of Health apply a health istithaah check based on the Health Minister's Regulation Number 15 of 2016 on the health istithaah of Hajj pilgrims or its amendments.

The Health Ministry will also carry out other health checks, including mental health, cognitive health, and activities of daily living (ADL).

"The Health Ministry is also recommended to improve the Siskohatkes (Integrated Hajj Computerized System for Health Field) application for determining the health istithaah of Hajj pilgrims," he said.

According to him, health istithaah will be a joint concern of the government, prospective pilgrims, and the community.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Health will gradually provide education and disseminate information on Hajj health istithaah to prospective pilgrims through health education and Hajj practice run guidance.

ANTARA

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