News - Yemen: The Ministry of Public Health and Population announced that the number of civilian victims of the Saudi-American-Emirati aggression who arrived at hospitals and health facilities over eight years has reached 48,217 martyrs and wounded.

The ministry stated that the number of martyrs reached 15,615, including 3,160 children and 3,216 women, while the number of wounded reached 32,602, including 4,592 children and 3,263 women, in addition to one injury. Six thousand children with disabilities as a result of the aggression.

This came in a conference held by the Ministry on the effects and repercussions of the aggression and blockade on the health sector and the passage of eight years of steadfastness in the face of aggression under the slogan "Bitter Harvest".

Deputy Minister of Health Mutahar al-Marwani affirmed that the indicators and figures reveal the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.

Al-Marwani reviewed the indirect damages of the aggression, which contributed to increasing the suffering of patients, the most important of which is the lack of oil derivatives, which led to the suspension of work in many vital departments, such as operations, emergencies, nurseries, and others.

He pointed out that the blockade prevented the entry of many life-saving medicines, as well as devices and equipment, especially those related to patients with chronic diseases, noting that the transfer of the Central Bank to Aden and the lack of budgets contributed to increasing the suffering of the health sector in meeting its needs and providing medicines.

Al-Marwani touched on the measures recently taken by the Jordanian authorities regarding patients and increasing their suffering, which included requiring them to obtain medical reports issued exclusively by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The Deputy Minister of Health stressed that despite this suffering, the steadfastness of the health sector contributed to alleviating the suffering of patients and meeting their needs for medicines and medical supplies despite the available capabilities, praising the support of the revolutionary leadership and the Supreme Political Council for the health sector to play its role in light of the current circumstances.

During the conference, which was attended by undersecretaries and directors of general and programs, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Anis Al-Asbahi, read the conference statement on the repercussions of the aggression on the health sector, indicating that under the unannounced truce and calm, the number of victims reached 1,791 civilians, including 1,562 wounded and 229. A martyr, as a result of the violations of the armistice and the raids of the armed spy planes of the aggression coalition.

He pointed out that the figures confirm that the border areas in Sa'ada province are witnessing a major criminal escalation, in which at least three people per day die, including one wounded or one martyr.

Al-Marwani pointed out that eight years of aggression and siege in which Yemen witnessed a health and humanitarian catastrophe and an almost complete collapse of the health system through the complete or partial destruction of 527 health facilities, causing great pressure on the health sector, leaving 55 percent of the health facilities out of work, and leaving more than 95 Percent of medical personnel working in Yemen.

He pointed out that a drug factory, two oxygen factories, and two dialysis centers were targeted, and 100 ambulances were targeted while they were performing their work, and 66 doctors, specialists, and health assistants were killed.

He also pointed out that medical centers recorded the death of 830,000 children under the age of five during the eight years of aggression, and the death of 80 newborns under 28 days a day, as well as the death of 46,000 women as a result of complications resulting from the siege and aggression.

The statement indicated that the aggression’s use of prohibited weapons caused an increase in the rates of congenital malformations and abortions of fetuses, at a rate of 350,000 abortions and 12,000 cases of malformation.

It showed that the cases of premature and underweight newborns increased annually in light of the aggression and siege by more than eight percent, as well as the number of children with heart defects to three thousand children.

It pointed out that the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition has increased to 2.6 million children under the age of five annually, including 630,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, 1.8 million women suffering from malnutrition annually, and another million suffering from complications under the blockade.

Al-Marwani indicated that cancer diseases increased during the years of aggression by 50 percent, as there were more than 87,000 cases registered with the National Cancer Center, of whom 40,000 were during the years of aggression, in addition to the injury of 30,000 children with cancer. The aggression coalition prevented the arrival of radiological devices and medicines for diagnosis and treatment.

He confirmed the increase in cases of leukemia among children from 300 to 1,700 cases in Sana'a and other provinces, as well as the increase in the number of persons with disabilities from three million before the aggression to four and a half million people, in addition to the increase in the number of people with chronic diseases to about 1.5 million disabled patients. Thousands of them have stopped traveling due to the remaining restrictions on Sana'a Airport.

Al-Marwani pointed to the increase in the number of people with kidney failure to five thousand and 200 people who need kidney transplants, as well as the increase in the number of people with liver failure to 500 cases, and those in need of corneal transplantation to two thousand, in addition to an increase in mental illnesses.

He pointed out that estimates indicate that fifty percent of the population suffers from some kind of mental illness, especially women and children, as a result of the bombing of cities and residential neighborhoods by the aggression coalition and its deliberate bombing late at night.

The statement stated that six thousand and 866 patients with blood disorders and genetic blood diseases, thalassemia, face the risk of death due to the entry of medicines and the low economic level of their families, in addition to the presence of 40 thousand cases of genetic blood diseases and sickle cell anemia.

The collapse of the health system in Yemen, according to the statement, is evident in the fact that doctors and health workers in the health sector at the central, governorate and district levels have not received their salaries since mid-2016, stressing that the transfer of the central bank to Aden caused severe damage to medical facilities and families of health workers.

Regarding the drug blockade for eight years, Dr. al-Asbahi stated that the aggression caused the transportation of "362" life-saving items to be hindered and needed for cooling and speedy arrival by imposing restrictions on Sana'a airport and the port of Hodeida, especially medicines (blood derivatives, hormonal drugs, immune drugs, serums, inhibitors blood coagulation, resuscitation and anesthesia drugs, some laboratory and diagnostic solutions).

He said, "The arbitrary measures of the aggression coalition impeded the work of 83 companies and importers who were providing 329 thousand vital items of medicines, while the number of international companies that closed their market in Yemen reached 16 companies that provided 559 important items."

Al-Asbahi indicated that the Ministry's programs are no longer able to disburse medicines for chronic diseases due to their high cost due to the lack of budgets, as they were disbursed free of charge to thousands of patients, and the suffering of the health sector was exacerbated by the closure of Sana'a airport and the port of Hodeida in the face of the health sector's needs for medicine, equipment and fuel.

He mentioned that humanitarian support for the health sector has been reduced to zero by the current month of March 2023 , although it provided only 15 percent of the need during 2022 .

The Ministry's statement also stressed that one of the negative effects of the aggression on medical equipment and supplies as a result of the blockade is that 98% of medical devices are worn out and work outside their default life, and the difficulty of entering spare parts for these devices, and preventing the arrival of vital medical equipment to Yemen for the treatment of chronic diseases and tumors in particular.

It pointed out that, according to a recent survey conducted in 89 government hospitals, the number of malfunctioning devices that have not been repaired due to the war and the blockade reached five thousand and 177 devices, in addition to the exit of life-saving devices for cancer diseases to prevent radioactive material from entering the country, which endangered the lives of many insolvent patients. Death.

The statement also stressed the inability to face the purchase of medical equipment, which lacks health facilities due to the war, the blockade, and the absence of financial resources such as dialysis machines and their solutions, and devices for performing qualitative operations such as liver transplantation and linear accelerator treatment, of which only one device was provided due to its high financial cost, as well as medical calibration devices. .

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health confirmed that in light of these conditions, the suffering of citizens has exacerbated, which led to the spread of diseases and epidemics in a remarkable manner, including skin diseases, which recorded an increase of five thousand 702 cases annually as well as recording more than four million cases of diarrhea and suspected cholera, of whom three thousand and 998 died.

He touched on the spread of more than 22,000 cases of measles, of which 162 children died during the year 2022 AD, as well as the increase in diphtheria infections, with an average of 2,000 cases per year, dengue fever, 57,000 cases, and malaria, 1,200,000 cases per year.

He mentioned that the number of people displaced as a result of the aggression has reached four million, and 20 million people are threatened by the lack of potable water, while the number of those who suffer from lack of food due to the aggression is 14 million.

The official spokesman confirmed in the statement that the blockade is the silent killer of Yemenis, and its effects are expected to extend to about 20 years to come if peace is not reached, indicating that thousands of patients have lost their right to treatment by preventing them from traveling abroad for treatment despite the agreement with the United Nations in In 2020 , an air bridge was established, but the United Nations did not fulfill this agreement, as only 23 of the thousands of patients traveled.

He pointed out that there are 60,000 patients registered with the Supreme Medical Committee to travel abroad, and only 2,000 patients with their companions were able to travel, indicating that the percentage of patients awaiting the opening of the travel destination for treatment in Egypt is 90 percent of the total patients.

Source: Saba