Local Editor
An exodus of foreign medical professionals is contributing to the collapse of Yemen’s health system since full-scale civil war broke out in the country last year, with many people dying from a lack of skilled care, the UN’s health agency and local medical officials say.
Most of the 1,200 foreign doctors and nurses who were employed in Yemen when the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen began in March last year have now left, the local office of the World Health Organization tweeted last month.
A source in the health ministry in Sana’a confirmed the departures and said increasing numbers of Yemeni doctors were expected to leave as well "as they can get more money abroad".
There are about 8,000 Yemeni doctors, but only a quarter are specialized, the source said.
The fighting between pro-Hadi forces, who are supported by a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, and the Houthi Ansarullah revolutionaries has also caused heavy damage to many hospitals and health centers and created shortages of medicines, equipment and the fuel needed to run electric generators that make up for an erratic power supply.
The situation is particularly critical in Taiz, where battles for control of the south-western province and its capital have raged since April last year.
All the foreign doctors and many of the Yemeni ones have left Taiz because of the fighting, according to the Taiz supreme medical committee, which was formed by medical professionals to assist victims of the fighting. It said 80 per cent of the health facilities in the province, which has 20 hospitals in addition to clinics and medical centers, had closed.
Many of the doctors still in Taiz, who number only a few dozen, are now working for free.
" Taiz depends on volunteer doctors to help injured people and patients," said Dr Shamsan.
Some of the city’s youth have launched fund-raising drives to support health facilities in Taiz city. So far, they have managed to reopen a center for prosthetic limbs.
Isam Al Batra, 34, a member of the group that reopened the center, said they raised funds through Facebook.
"Most of the donations came from Yemenis abroad who heard about the project through Facebook," Al Batra said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
