The Ministry of Haj in Madinah has been awarded a top European quality management certification for its services for pilgrims in the city.

The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) gave the city its Committed to Excellence (C2E) certification, the first Saudi government body to receive it.

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Albejaoa, director of the Haj Ministry’s branch in Madinah, praised Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman for getting the recognition.

“He has ensured there is a spirit of competition among the various government agencies in Madinah by launching an award for best public services. His aim has been to improve the quality of government services in the region,” he said.

Albejaoa said the ministry started upgrading its services in the city a few years ago for pilgrims and visitors. It also ensured that private firms operating in Madinah improved their services.

Haj Minister Bandar Mohammad Hajjar had instructed the branch to ensure its services were benchmarked with a global quality management organization, and to outsource this process to the EFQM, Albejaoa said.

The branch then started holding specialized programs to train its employees. A significant outcome has been that several branch employees have joined the program as accredited EFQM trainees.

The process started with an EFQM consultant advising the branch on setting up programs that could be used to measure services. Specialized action teams were formed and trained to carry out the projects.

The EFQM assigned an international arbitrator to visit the ministry’s branch and audit the projects on completion. He judged that the branch had successfully passed the qualification tests and achieved the required level of C2E.

Albejaoa said this achievement would directly affect services provided to visitors and pilgrims at the Prophet’s Mosque.

He said the entire process was part of the government’s plans to ensure world-class services for pilgrims visiting the two holy mosques.

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