President Dr Mohamed Muizzu on Sunday has decided to revise the present Hajj quota policy to give precedence to first time pilgrims.
The decision was taken to revise the policy to offer a solution for the long waiting list of people waiting to perform the sacred Hajj pilgrimage for the first time.
According to the government, the newly revised policy will come into effect from next year.
The revised policy includes:
1. Give precedence to people undertaking their first Hajj pilgrimage.
2. To dedicate a certain percentage of the annual Hajj quota for people above 65 years of age waiting to offer their first pilgrimage.
3. Allowing people aged 75 years and above who have not performed Hajj to arrange an aide based on their health condition.
4. However the aide must be a person who also has not undertaken the Hajj pilgrimage before, but an exception can be made if a first time pilgrim is not available to be an aide.
The government has said that the health condition of such people will be assessed through doctors appointed by the Maldives Hajj Corporation.
5. People who have already performed Hajj will only be given another opportunity if five years have lapsed since their last pilgrimage.
6. Officials taken by Maldives Hajj Corporation will be exempt from clauses (1), (2) and (3).
According to the Hajj Corporation, there are currently 9,115 people on the waiting list for Hajj pilgrimage. Of these, 7,543 are under 65 years of age, 1,461 are between 65 and 75 years of age and 111 are over 75.
There are 8,623 people seeking their first Hajj pilgrimage on the waiting list, which includes 7,150 under 65, 1,370 between 65 and 75 and 103 over 75 years.
The government has been in discussions with its Saudi Arabian counterparts to increase the annual Hajj quota available to the Maldives.