Yemen: The 60 years old, Hajj Ali Al-Raymi, tells of his arduous journey with leukemia (CLL) and his search for the Laukeran medicine written for him on the prescription head by the specialist doctor.

Al-Raymi told Almasirah newspaper: “After a long suffering with the disease and moving from a hospital to another in Sana'a, and staying in intensive care, we were recently transferred to the Cancer Oncology Center in the Republican Hospital to confirm the tests that proved the presence of leukemia.”

He continues, after we have spent everything we have and what we obtained from loans and aid, the specialist doctor writes for us the name of a drug that is banned by the US-Saudi aggression, and here lies the problem, the pain increases, and hopes for recovery evaporate.

Almasirah newspaper conducted its field visit to ensure the presence of the medicines in the pharmacies and in the cancer tumor center, but found nothing other than disappointments in front of it as this that medicine has not existed in Yemen for a long time.

The director of the Oncology Center, Dr. Abdullah Thawabeh, says: We receive dozens of patients daily, and the center's services face difficulties in providing some medicines that were prevented by the US-Saudi aggression from entering Yemen.

In a special statement to Almasirah newspaper, Dr. Thawabah added : we face difficulties in providing many types of medicines and chemical doses due to US-Saudi aggression and siege. Many additional devices are prevented from entering the country, and there are devices that need maintenance, and some of them are very old.

Thawabah continues by saying, the World Health Organization did not play the role required of it, and the humanitarian organizations that used to provide us some support withdrew their support under the pretext that the United Nations and donor countries did not fulfill their obligations towards them.

Thawaba says: Among the difficulties that hinder our work to establish a large and independent cancer center is our need to rehabilitate a specialized medical staff and provide a building that can accommodate all cases, as well as the establishment of additional branches in the provincial centers.

He confirmed that the most common areas for cancer patients are those that have been hit by prohibited weapons by the US-Saudi aggression, pointing to the spread of cancerous tumors in a way doubled since the start of the aggression and siege.

The director of the Oncology Center explains that the center received more than 6,000 cases in 2021, while the number of cases this year reached 12,000, noting that some cases died before reaching the center.

He added that the US-Saudi aggression’s siege on Sana'a International Airport in the faces of travelers for treatment abroad, doubling the death rate, exacerbating the most sick cases, and reinforcing the feeling of frustration among some cases who do not trust the center's services.

Leukeran is one of dozens of medicines that the aggression prevents from entering Yemen. It is not the name of a nuclear or biological weapon, or one of the weapons of mass destruction that the forces of aggression deliberately prevent from entering Yemen.

Rather, it is the name of a treatment for leukemia patients whose numbers are increasing by dozens day after day. It is one of the irreplaceable medicines, and no Yemeni company is able to manufacture it yet, and there is no other competing company that can deliver it to besieged Yemen. However, it is used as a weapon in the hands of the US-Saudi aggression that deliberately prevents it in order to kill the largest number of Yemeni patients.

Where are the humanitarian and human rights organizations and where are the human rights activists from what is happening in Yemen as dozens of cancer patients are killed on a daily basis among the Yemeni people and dozens are sick as well? Because of the effects of forbidden weapons and the enemy's prevention of pharmaceutical companies to introduce this medicine and other prohibited medicines into Yemen?

Laukeran medicine remains just one of the dozens of medicines that the US-Saudi aggression prevents from entering Yemen, so that the suffering of the Yemeni people continues and their pathological conditions worsen.

Translated by Almasirah English website