Hospital in Yemen’s Taiz warns of collapse in days because of Houthi siege
A hospital in Yemen’s Taiz has warned that it may shut down completely within days due to a renewed Houthi siege that has cut off essential medical supplies and fuel.
The siege has forced the Republican Hospital to cut dialysis sessions from four hours to just two and a half.
Dr Essam Mahyoub Dahan, the centre’s director, said the drastic reduction is the only way to keep the facility operating before it shuts down completely.
“Because of the siege and the shortage of diesel and medical solutions, we have recently been forced to reduce dialysis sessions from four hours to just two and a half,” Dahan told Al Jazeera.
The hospital’s stocks of specialised dialysis solutions are also close to running out. The delivery which was due earlier this month failed to arrive because of the renewed Houthi siege on Taiz city.
The siege began in the first week of October after Houthi advances in the Taiz countryside. The city was previously under complete Houthi siege between 2015 and 2016, in the early years of Yemen’s ongoing war.
Across Taiz governorate, where battles are raging between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Iranian-allied Houthi fighters, the number of patients at risk is far greater.
Fuel shortage threatens oxygen and surgery
Hospitals in Taiz depend heavily on diesel-powered generators because much of the city’s electricity infrastructure was destroyed during the 11-year-old war.
The renewed Houthi siege has severely disrupted the entry of fuel, including the diesel needed to run hospital generators and lifesaving medical equipment.
The hospital has no reserve diesel supplies. It is now buying it on the black market almost every day, at prices that have reached five times what they were before the siege.
The hospital has already suspended operations in some departments, including essential units. Dr al-Ameri warned that the longer the siege continues, the more prices will rise and the further medical services will deteriorate.
On October 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that critical shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines and medical supplies were threatening lifesaving healthcare throughout Taiz governorate.
According to the WHO, 42 health facilities in Taiz city had reported severe shortages of essential supplies. Hospitals and ambulances require at least 156,000 litres of fuel a month to continue functioning.
The organisation also warned that diesel shortages threaten to disrupt oxygen production, water pumping, vaccine refrigeration and sanitation services, increasing the risks of disease outbreaks.
Patients face shortened sessions and rising prices
In its October 12 statement, Taiz’s health office warned that continued restrictions on fuel deliveries could lead to the shutdown of medical oxygen production plants.
“Many medical departments depend on oxygen, particularly operating theatres, inpatient wards, intensive care units and incubators for premature babies,” Taysir al-Samei said.
Most hospitals have already suspended services in some units because of the shortage of diesel and the lack of necessary medical solutions, as well as shortages of medical staff who are struggling to get to work because of the lack of transport.
At the Republican Hospital, al-Ameri said that shortages were also affecting diagnostics and treatment. The availability of laboratory reagents had fallen to just 10 to 15 percent of previous levels.
Approximately half of the medicines normally available were now out of stock. Prices for the remaining medicines had doubled, placing them further out of reach for patients already struggling with Yemen’s worsening economic crisis.
The continued fighting and shelling around Taiz have increased the number of wounded people requiring emergency care – placing additional pressure on facilities already struggling with shortages of surgical supplies, anaesthetics and intravenous fluids.
Abdul Badi Abdulwuhab, a 53-year-old dialysis patient, suffers from weakness and pain because of the shorter sessions.
Dr Dahan said that the patient’s condition had deteriorated since his sessions were shortened. He said the only solution is to end the siege and return things to the way they were.
International calls for aid access
International humanitarian and health organisations have issued similar warnings about the impact of the siege on the already fragile healthcare system in Taiz.
On Thursday, Amnesty International called on the Houthis to immediately reopen vital roads into and around the city, warning that the closure of the main road between Taiz and the southern port city of Aden threatened hundreds of thousands of civilians with losing access to food, water and healthcare.
The United Nations has separately warned that the restrictions on supplies are bringing Taiz’s health system close to collapse and urged the Houthis to allow humanitarian assistance and essential goods to enter without obstruction.
The governorate’s health office warned that continued restrictions could endanger the lives of 1,110 patients with kidney failure who depend on dialysis services in the governorate’s hospitals.
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