’More than 13,000 War-Wounded’ Provided MSF Treatment in Yemeni Governorates
Local Editor
Doctors without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF] said on Sunday that more than 13,000 war-wounded have been provided treatment by its medical teams in various governorates in Yemen since the start of the Saudi-led aggression in March up to this month of September.
A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country since March 26. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].
In Yemen, MSF is working in Aden, Al-Dhale’, Taiz, Sa’ada, Amran, Hajjah, Ibb and Sana’a.
In Aden, MSF said that it is "running an Emergency Surgical Hospital in Sheikh Othman district, in the north of the city. Mass casualties due to fierce fighting, air raids and shelling have been frequent in July... 204 war wounded were received on July 19th, 167 on 25th and 111 the next day. Since the beginning of 2015, MSF received 5,978 patients in the emergency room and performed more than 3,776 surgical interventions. Since 19th March, MSF received 5,522 war wounded. MSF is also providing mental health care and physiotherapy in the hospital. MSF has been receiving more patients from Lahj and Abyan governorates recently. Victims of landmines and unexploded ordnances have been increasing since early August MSF received more than 35 victims, mostly children.
In the south of the city, MSF started on 20th April running an advanced emergency post. In the Crater Health Center, MSF staff is working 24/7 providing trauma care, medication and fuel for the power generator. More than 1,232 wounded patients have been received in the emergency room. Out of these, 215 have been referred to other hospitals for further treatment after initial stabilization. In May MSF started outpatient surgical mobile clinics in Enma and later in As-Sha’b district to provide outpatient care to surgical patients who could not access MSF hospital. More than 1,220 war wounded have been provided surgical follow-up consultations and wound dressings".
In Amran, the organization said: "MSF has been providing general consultations in mobile clinics for IDPs fleeing from several Yemeni areas. Since mid May 2015, more than 9,722 general consultations have been provided. In addition, MSF has provided support in several IDP locations. The support included providing water tanks, non-food items and hygiene kits for more than 500 IDP families located in 20 locations in Khamer. Activities also included health promotion among IDPs and cleaning the sewage system in the central market of Khamer. Support is being given to the MoH in a measles vaccination campaign in Khamer in July.
In Al-Salam hospital [MoH], MSF is actively supporting life-saving and healthcare services for the patients in various departments. MSF is also supporting the Huth health centre with medication, oxygen, logistic equipment, human resources support, electricity and a referral system. Since 1 January until the end of August , MSF has received 20459 patients in the emergency rooms, performed 1,888 surgeries, 1,597 deliveries, admitted more than 1900 adult patients to the IPD and 1,949 children to the paediatric ward and neonatal unit, and provided more than 4,423 antenatal and postnatal consultations, and 1,478 gynaecological consultations in Amran governorate.
MSF has built a network of advanced medical posts in northern Amran and Sa’ada governorates setting up emergency rooms in local health centres, providing medical supplies and training in emergency care and the management of mass casualties, repairing and improving damaged structures, and running ambulance systems to surgical hospitals in Khameer and Sa’ada city. In July MSF set-up in North Amran governorate a reference system from 3 peripheral health centres. MSF is supporting the emergency rooms in Harf Sufyan, Al Ashah, Al Qaflah health centres. In August MSF received more than 1784 patients in these health centers and referred nearly 100 of them to Al-Jumhori hospital in Sa’ada to recieve surgical care. MSF is supporting Huth and Khameer with 4 ambulances".
In Sa’aada, MSF said: "Large civilian populations remain in towns and villages in Sa’ada and north Amran governorates, near the Saudi border, despite daily airstrikes and significant destruction of infrastructure in the region. Many health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, medical staff have fled, and transport is extremely challenging due to high fuel prices and insecurity on the roads, which also receive daily airstrikes. A need was identified to improve access to lifesaving care for those who live at a distance from the main referral centres.
Since May, MSF has been supporting the ER, OT and maternity departments of Al-Jumhori hospital in Sa’ada city. MSF teams & MoH staff have performed 534 deliveries, received 2,366 patients in the emergency room, including 1,260 war wounded, and have seen 34 deaths upon arrival. MSF has also performed 370 surgeries, of which 311 were related to war. Support is also provided to Haydan hospital with medication and a referral system to Al Jumhori hospital. An MSF doctor is working in the ER where 2030 patients were received between May and September 2015, of which 30% were suffering from conflict-related trauma. MSF has also donated 1080 sessions for the Kidney Dialysis center at Al-Jumhori Hospital".
In Hajjah, it said: "In Haradh, a total of 212 war wounded were treated by the MSF team jointly with the MoH team from Haradh hospital. Currently MSF is not working in Haradh. MSF team which evacuated Haradh is currently in Hodaida, where they have done a mass casualty training for staff at Al Olafi hospital. In Al-Jumhori Hospital in Hajja, MSF team [along with the MoH staff] have received 309 emergency cases, 163 of them were war wounded. MSF has also donated 720 sessions for the Kidney Dialysis center at the hospital.
In Beni Hassan, MSF is supporting IDPs with water provision [216,000 a day], non-food items distributions and general medical consultations in Bani Hassan district. MSF has provided 5,523 general consultations at its mobile clinics and the health centre in the district. MSF received 123 emergency cases in Bani Hassan Center. Since early July, MSF community health teams have identified a total of 2,101 families and 8,149 individuals in four locations -- Al Khadmah, Al Okashiah, Shab-Al-Dosh and Al Manjorah. Non-food items were distributed to 805 families. By the end of August, the total number of displaced was around 20,000, of which 16,500 were in Beni Hassan and 3,500 in Khamis. MUAC screening was performed in these IDP sites in July and in August and showed an alarming increasing emergency rate of malnutrition.
In Abs Hospital, the ER is open with 24/7 presence of MoH staff supported by MSF staff. MSF started supporting the emergency room in Abs hospital on 8 July. So far it has received 639 emergency cases, 207 of whom war wounded".
In Sana’a, MSF also said: "Since 26 March 2015, MSF has focused its support on the main hospitals in Sana’a, especially Al-Gomhoury and Al-Thawra hospitals which are receiving the majority of the wounded people from Sana’a and the rest of the country. More than 700 injured were benefiting from the MSF kits.
Support in Sana’a is not only first-aid dressing items but also surgery and post-surgery materials, along with some blood transfusion and admission required items. MSF also implemented the strategy of putting prepositioned materials in the hospitals in order to be used in case we couldn’t reach the hospital in time with the supplies. Kits for covering 180 war wounded in the emergency room were given to these two hospitals in late July. MSF donated dialysis session materials to the Kidney Centre at the Al-Jumhori hospital in Sana’a to cover more than 2,124 sessions. MSF is preparing to support this centre with these materials for three months.
...MSF gave donations to local hospitals that received the victims of airstrikes in Sana’a in the second week of September..."
In Al-Dhale’, MSF said: "MSF provides life-saving healthcare services in the Ministry of Health [MOH] Al-Nasser Hospital in Al-Dhale district, in southwestern Yemen. The support includes emergency room [24/7], surgery, post-operative care, sterilization, laboratory, infection control, health care waste management and referrals.
In addition, MSF is supporting Al-Azarik Health Center in the emergency room, ante-natal care, post-natal care, family planning, normal deliveries, routine vaccination, nutrition and referrals to Al-Nasser Hospital.. In Qataba, MSF supports the emergency room [24/7], observation room, laboratory and health care waste management in the MOH Al-Salam Hospital. In the last few months, MSF expanded its activities by supporting the outpatient department, nutrition and ante-natal care. MSF also provides potable water to 25,000 people through the unique suitable borehole of Qataba town. MSF is also supporting several health centers in Al-Jaffea and Al6-Habilain hospitals with medical supplies and equipment in the governorate.
Since the beginning of the recent crisis in March, 2015, MSF projects in Al-Dhale’ have received 29,049 patients in the emergency room, with more than 1,681 war wounded people among them".
In Taiz, MSF said: "Since the beginning of May 2015, MSF has been providing emergency medications and surgical supplies to Al-Jumhori, Al-Thawra, Al-Rawdah, Military and Al-Qa’idah hospitals that have been receiving people affected by violence in the recent and ongoing conflict. During the period, MSF setup and equipped three extra ER rooms at Al-Rawdah hospital to allow extra space for handling mass casualties while continuing supporting the hospital’s ER with supplies and staffing. MSF has four medical doctors and one nurse working in the emergency room of Al-Rawdah hospital, besides covering the salaries of 27 hospital staff members who are working in the emergency rooms to ensure a 24/7 presence. Since 15th May 2015 Al-Rawdah hospital has received a total of 3 821war wounded patients, of which 308 died, including 15 women. MSF also plans to provide a hospital-to-hospital referral system with starting with two ambulances, to be increased depending on the need.
Given the assessed needs, MSF started setting an up office in Taiz in June 2015 to ensure continued support during this crisis period..."
In Ibb, the organization said: "MSF has donated medical and surgical materials to Al-Thawra and Al-Qa’idah hospitals in Ibb Governorate. MSF is also considering one-off donations of food supplies to centralized kitchens of IDPs who are based in seven schools in Al-Qa’idah city in Ibb Governorate. On 01 June 2015, MSF helped the Ministry of Health to evacuate 509,800 vaccine doses meant for routine immunization, from the Governorate Health Office, which is located at the war’s front-line and to relocate them to Ibb cold-chain. However, the donation was a ’drop in the ocean’ and more support is still needed, especially for those IDPs hosted outside of the schools.
Yareem Hospital support: MSF has supported Yareem Hospital with kits that enough for 40 patients.
Medical Donations: MSF has made donations of medical supplies to hospitals in Sana’a, Aden, Saadah, Abyan, Taiz and Lahj, Marib, Al-Baydha governorates since the start of the conflict".
