Examining the Challenges of the Healthcare System and its Solutions in Providing Services to the Walking Pilgrims Referring to Ehsan Field Hospital on Arbaeen Walking of 2022

The Arbaeen foot-pilgrimage in the Holy City of Karbala is one of the world's most significant religious events, attracting millions of pilgrims yearly. Health and hygienic issues in this gathering have always been a cause of concern for the communities involved.

The study aimed to examine the challenges Ehsan Field Hospital faced in the Arbaeen of 2022 and its approach to providing services to referring pilgrims.

The present study was a cross-sectional study with a 10-day interval conducted on 19,800 patients referred to Ehsan Field Hospital between the 9th and 19th of September, 2022. The research tool was a two-part checklist; the first part included the patients’ demographic information, and the second part included information about the disease (e.g., laboratory information, the disease symptoms, and the disease diagnosis). The SPSS software (version 26) was used for data analysis. Moreover, a brief qualitative investigation based on the experiences of the personnel working on-site was conducted to assess the challenges and their solutions in this foot-pilgrimage.

A total of 13,860 (70%) patients were male, 5,940 (30%) were female, and the majority of them were between the ages of 25-55 (63.8%). Most hospitalizations (58.5%) were related to problems caused by gastroenteritis.

Considering the importance of people's health and hygiene in gatherings similar to Arbaeen, the necessity of building and operating field hospitals and mobile treatment camps for serving people is crucial, starting a few days before and continuing after the gathering. Furthermore, universities of medical sciences can provide a platform to facilitate and carry out valid research projects and studies to clarify the health and treatment problems dealt with during the Arbaeen foot-pilgrimage. Furthermore, they can provide practical and efficient solutions to improve the level of health and hygiene.