Yemeni Patients Face Death Due to Fuel Shortage in Hospitals

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Some 800 Yemeni patients are at the risk of death daily in the event of the cessation of the emergency sections in hospitals due the lack of oil derivatives, Yemen’s Ministry of the Public Health and Population in Sana’a said on Saturday.

Deputy Director General of the Emergency and Ambulance Sector at the Ministry Abdulkarim al-Nahari announced the entry of the critical phase after two weeks of almost complete cessation, YPA reported.

Al-Nahari confirmed, in a statement to Al-Masirah TV channel, that the emergency and ambulance departments in public and private hospitals consume 2.9 million liters of diesel per month, while ambulances consume 200,000 liters of gasoline.

“The Yemeni Petroleum Company has provided us with 50 per cent of the required quantity per month and informed us that its diesel reserves are running out because of the aggression coalition’s continued detention of oil ships,” Al-Nahari said.

He referred that the Ministry of Health has 500 ambulances operating in hospitals, performing 1,700 emergency trips per month and consuming 200,000 liters of gasoline, which are threatened to stop.

The oxygen plant at Al-Thawra Hospital in Sanaa stopped work last week and it was restarted with the available diesel quantity and faces the specter of a final halt, he added.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

In the relentless campaign, Saudi-led airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties and killed thousands of Yemeni civilians.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.