Aden's overwhelmed hospitals turn into hospices

Aden

Overwhelmed by hundreds of sick and wounded each day, hospitals in Yemen's second city Aden have been reduced to hospices lacking medicines and space as the country's bloodshed rages on.

"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 city, Gahtan is suffering from dengue fever, spreading fast across Aden.

"The doctor prescribed a treatment, but we couldn't find the medicines."

The World Health Organization said last month that more than 3,000 dengue cases have been reported in Yemen since March, adding that the actual figure could be far higher. Medical sources in Aden say the mosquito-borne infectious disease has already killed 260 people in the port city in recent weeks.

But dengue is only one of the many diseases, such as malaria and typhoid, rapidly spreading across the port city due to deteriorating sanitary conditions as rebels and pro-government forces wage fierce battles. The United Nations has declared its highest level of humanitarian emergency in Yemen, where a Saudi-led Arab coalition has also been bombing rebels since March 26.

In addition to some 3,000 Yemenis killed since March, the war has also left 14,000 wounded and displaced more than a million people, according to the UN. It says 21 million, or 80 percent of Yemen's population, need immediate help and that close to 13 million people are unable to meet their food needs, while 15 million people have no health care.

But Aden, capital of the formerly independent South Yemen, has born the brunt of the war.  The catastrophic situation in the city was highlighted again 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.