Nma Shekwolo
Six female intending pilgrims from Niger State have been disqualified from the forth-coming Hajj to Saudi Arabia.

The state  commissioner for health, Ibrahim Sule, disclosed to journalists on Sunday in Minna, during the flag- off of the inoculation of intending pilgrims against yellow fever, polio and cerebral spinal meningitis.

He said they were excluded because they were discovered to be pregnant by the medical team in charge of screening.

Sule noted that the decision is in order to protect the women and their pregnancy from the demanding activities to be carried out by pilgrims in the holy land, which conforms with the directive of the National Hajj Commission.

Travelling documents of the affected women have been recovered from them by the medical team in a bid to ensure the ban on their pilgrimage is enforced.

The commissioner said another round of screening for the female pilgrims, would be conducted hours before their departure to the holy land and urged all intending pilgrims to present themselves for the free immunisation against diseases during the Hajj.
Sule warned that yelllow cards would not be issued to any pilgrim who refuses to be vaccinated as the Saudi authorities are very strict about the administration of the vaccines.

Pregnant females have also been barred from the Hajj in other states across the country, including Kano, where seven women were disqualified from the trip, and in Lagos state where pregnant women, children, aged people and those with terminal diseases like cancer, stroke and others were excluded.