ADEN // Overwhelmed by hundreds of sick and wounded people each day, hospitals in the Yemeni city of Aden have been reduced to hospices lacking medicines and space as the country’s bloodshed shows no signs of stopping.
“The world is watching us slowly die,” said Abdullah Gahtan, a lawyer lying on a bed at Aden’s Al Sadaka hospital.
Like many others in the war-ravaged port city, Mr Gahtan is suffering from dengue fever, which is spreading fast across Aden.
The World Health Organization said last month that more than 3,000 dengue cases have been reported in Yemen since March, but that the actual figure could be far higher.
Medical sources in Aden say the mosquito-borne infectious disease has already killed 260 people across the city in recent weeks.
But as rebels and pro-government forces wage fierce battles in Aden, dengue is only one of many diseases that are rapidly spreading across the city due to deteriorating sanitary conditions. Others include malaria and typhoid.
The United Nations has declared its highest level of humanitarian emergency in Yemen, where a Saudi-led Arab coalition – which includes the UAE – has also been bombing rebels since March 26.
Since March, some 3,000 Yemenis have been killed in the war, which has also wounded 14,000 people and displaced more than a million, according to the UN.
The UN says that 21 million people – 80 per cent of Yemen’s population – need immediate help and that close to 13 million people are unable to meet their food needs. Another 15 million people have no health care.
But Aden, Yemen’s second city and the capital of the formerly independent South Yemen, has born the brunt of the war.
The catastrophic situation in the city was highlighted by the recent death of two patients suffering from renal failure at Al Sadaka hospital’s dialysis unit, which was shut down for five days due to a lack of supplies.
“I wish I had died,” said Saud Saleh Qaed between sobs.
Both of the 56-year-old’s legs were amputated after she was hit by a mortar round that crashed near her home in Dar Saad as she ventured out to fetch water. Aden residents and officials accuse the rebels of randomly shelling residential areas of the city with rockets and mortars.
Ms Saleh Qaed was admitted to a facility run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
But with little room available, many patients are camped in corridors, some on mattresses on the ground, others slumped on the floor with limbs wrapped in bandages amid children’s cries and screams.
“Many of the patients are unable to go back home because their home has been destroyed or shelled. So that creates an issue when we have to discharge the patients,” said Thierry Goffeau, MSF project coordinator in Aden.
“They don’t know where to go, but we cannot keep them in hospital, so it’s a very difficult situation.”
MSF says it has treated more than 4,000 of the wounded in the seven facilities it runs and has managed to deliver 100 tonnes of supplies, despite the dangers and a blockade imposed by both the Saudi-led coalition and the rebels.
All public hospitals in Aden face similar problems, from drug shortages to power cuts and a lack of space to admit patients.
In Mansura district, the government-run 22 May hospital is only admitting those with serious injuries due to the limited space.
“The hospital refused to take in my wounded brother saying there were not enough beds,” said Adnan Zamki.
After going from one hospital to another, his brother was finally accepted in a Red Cross field hospital.
According to Mouhib Abbad, a member of a local relief grouping, around 5,000 wounded people need treatment abroad.
“Arab coalition states should take care of this,” he said.
The UN Security Council has urged world governments to dig deep in their pockets after only 10 per cent of the latest UN appeal for Yemen – requesting US$1.6 billion (Dh58.8bn) – was raised.
* Agence France-Presse