The Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has launched on Saturday a new Hajj platform and smart card to link operations and services to all sectors under the ministry. Although, the Kingdom had to bar pilgrims across the globe from performing the annual hajj, since it shut down two of the holiest sites for Muslims.
But the kingdom embraced tech-equipped solutions and social distancing norms for reopening the country in a phased manner. Saudi Arabia was even ranked third in the world for fighting covid with tech. Now Saudi Arabia has placed faith in digital transformation to make sure that the faithful can perform Hajj, with a dedicated portal and smart cards for the pilgrimage.
Smartcards equipped with near-field communication, contain medical information and addresses of pilgrims, which can be used for controlling their access to facilities. The card will also guide travelers to their accommodation, and will help workers at the grand mosque check medical history through a barcode.
The smart card operates by means of Near-field communication (NFC), which is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that lets NFC-enabled devices communicate with each other.
It also enables the card to be read through the Kiosk self-service devices deployed at the holy sites, and the card contains a barcode that is read by workers to know the pilgrim’s data.
The ministry was one of the first participants with the smart card initiative in the Makkah Cultural Forum of 2020.
The card is considered as one of the outcomes of Vision 2030 initiatives, and the implementation of the initiative proved to be a successful model for the application of technologies in serving pilgrims.
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The smart card will be activated during the Hajj season of 2021. The card was used during the Hajj season of 2019 on an experimental basis, with distribution of 50,000 cards among a section of pilgrims, official report noted.
The card will be administered through a unified center to control all services.
Launched towards the end of a year that brought all activities including congregational prayers come to a screeching halt.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reopened its two holy mosques for prayers in October and has only allowed 6000 people at a time in Makkah’s grand mosque, which had hosted 2.5 million people for Hajj 2019. Citizens and expats were allowed to perform Umrah pilgrimage at 30% capacity under new norms, and five million worshippers have made their way to Makkah since then.
