Sana’a Hospitals Launch Distress Call Due to Fuel Crisis

Hospitals in the Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, confirmed, on Sunday, closing hospitals is being considered seriously, due to the lack of fuel.

A Private hospital’s management told Almasirah TV “we are seriously considering closing. Hospitals are working with fuel that is sustain only days, and this is illogical for a hospital that receives patients all the time.”

In turn, Dr. Mageda al-Khatib, director of Al-Sabeen Hospital for Maternity and Childhood, explained to Almasirah that if Al-Sabeen Hospital was closed, as a result of the fuel crisis, 3,000 pregnant women and between 400 to 500 children in nurseries might die per month, noting that the United Nations organizations permanently stopped fuel subsidies in 2022. This contributed to the intensification of the fuel crisis.

Mutahar Al-Marwani, Director General of the Health Office in the capital, Sana’a, explained to Almasirah that there are 87 public and private hospitals in Sana’a, 529 public and private medical centers, and seven oxygen factories whose monthly need is more than two million liters of diesel.

Al-Marwani pointed out that dozens of emergency calls from hospitals are received daily, but the siege is suffocating and the fuel we obtain does not cover 15% of the needs of the public and private medical sector in the capital, Sana’a, stressing that international organizations were informed by the Ministry of Health ten days ago of the danger of continuing Saudi detained fuel tankers, and there was no positive sign.

Nasser Al-Qadri, Secretary-General of the Federation of Private Hospitals, pointed out that the fuel crisis imposed a new problem related to the inability of doctors and technical and administrative staff to reach hospitals.

He explained that the hospitals and private centers in Yemen need one million and one hundred thousand liters of diesel per month, and currently only 30% are provided by the Petroleum Company and the government.

Al-Qadri said, “we are unable to operate major medical devices, and the continuation of this situation is prompting private hospitals to seriously consider the closing option despite its tragedy and the resulting humanitarian repercussions.”

A number of bodies, rural and central authorities, and hospitals have declared their entry into a critical situation, as a result of the continued detention of fuel vessels by the Saudi-UAE coalition, despite the fact that they have received United Nations permits.

In statements to Sana’a-based Saba news agency warning that as a result of the lack of oil derivatives, work has stopped, exposing the lives of thousands of patients to death.

The data held the coalition fully responsible for the consequences of the continued detention of fuel vessels and their effects on the health sector, and the low level of medical and therapeutic services to citizens.

It stressed that the continuation of the blockade and the denial of access to oil derivative vessels had exacerbated the health situation, exposing thousands of patients to death, especially in focused care rooms, nurseries, operations, dialysis centers, and others.

The statements called upon the international community, the United Nations, and humanitarian and human rights organizations to work to lift the embargo, stop the war and allow the entry of oil products and humanitarian and pharmaceutical assistance.

It condemned the deliberate hyper-negativity of the United Nations and its organizations for their silence on this complex crime of the States of Saudi coalition against the Yemeni people.

It called on central and rural bodies and hospitals to strengthen alignment and cohesion and carry out protests and marches to send a message to the world about the arbitrary practices of Saudi coalition in piracy and the detention of oil derivatives vessels.