Rashida Bakait | India Tomorrow
BENGALURU—The World Health organisation (WHO) has declared Madinah Munawarrah, one of the two holy cities of Saudi Arabia, as one of the heathiest cities in the world, according to a report appearing in The Arab News.
The city got its new status after a team of WHO visited the holy city and gave its report based on global standards required for a city to be declared healthy.
“A healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life, and developing [them] to their maximum potential”, WHO says in its criteria for nominating a healthy city.
As reported by media, the government of Madinah had introduced a programme to record all the data on an electronic platform for WHO to review. It also included a strategic partnership with Taibah University.
A committee comprising 100 members representing the 22 government, civil, charity and volunteer agencies that prepared the data for WHO accreditation, was supervised by Taibah University president Dr. Abdul Azizi Assarani.
According to media reports, Madinah is the first city with a population of 20 lakh or two million to be recognised under WHO’s healthy cities programme.
Many Indians living in Madinah expressed joy over WHO’s acknowledgement of Madinah as one of the healthiest cities of the globe. “It is great news for the residents of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah”, overjoyed Rehana Sayyad staying in Madinah said.
“The authorities have taken ample measures to ensure safety and hygiene in the area. Moreover, residents also co-operated with the authorities and followed rules and regulations laid down by the authorities”, Rehana commented, praising the local authorities for working hard to meet the global standards of a clean city.
Another resident and an Indian, Mohammad Mudassir, said, “Since Al Madinah is a pilgrimage city, it has a lot of pilgrims visiting Masjid Al Nabwi from all over the world. I stay near Masjid Al Nabwi and have seen the measures taken by the authorities to keep the Masjid safe and clean by limiting the number of visitors”.
He lamented that things have changed tremendously and now one has to use an app to book his/her turn to visit Riadhul Jannah and, that too, once in a month only. “Post pandemic, locals seem to be more interested in visiting Riadhul Jannah. May be, they have now realised the importance of staying in the vicinity of the blessed place,’’ he opined.
Talking on measures taken by the authorities in other public areas, Rehana Sayyad informed, “Authorities are continuously monitoring the shops, malls, and recreation centres to see if they are following the norms of using masks, sanitisers along with the other guidelines given by authorities.”
Rehana feels blessed residing in the revered city of Al Madinah. “It is a blessing to stay here as the city is continuously showered with the mercy and blessings of the Creator and eventually, we could hear the news of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah to be amongst the healthiest cities in the world, despite it being the crowded city”, points out Rehana.
