Report: US-Saudi Aggression and international silence are killing children of Yemen

Sad stories and scenes you hardly find in any country other than Yemen due to the air blockade imposed on Sanaa airport. 

Last year, the parents of the baby girl, Amira Abdullah Al-Zaidi, appeared on television channels calling on the international community to quickly intervene to transport their two children to receive treatment abroad due to the inability of Local hospitals had to undergo heart surgery, as she was suffering from heart valves, and the blockade caused most of the medical devices to malfunction.

And here is the same appeal repeated today with the Siamese twins, where the Minister of Health called for an urgent flight through Sanaa Airport to transport the Siamese twins, who were born in the al-Sabeen Hospital, pointing out that the twins ’critical condition requires an urgent transfer abroad.

A day after the Minister of Health, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakil, asked the United Nations to do its role in transporting the Siamese twins out of Yemen, the response of the World Health Organization came to apologize for its inability to reach “positive results” regarding the transfer of the Siamese twins’ case to receive treatment abroad.

Minister of Public Health and Population in the National Salvation Government, Dr. Taha al-Mutawakel, called on the United Nations to provide air transport through Sana’a airport urgently to the conjoined twins who were recently born in Sabeen hospital in Sana’a.

Al-Mutawakel further called on all international organizations to urgently intervene to save the lives of the newly born Siamese twins, because their condition is serious and unstable and because there are no means or specialized centers due to the devastating health system in Yemen caused by the aerial bombardments and the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led aggression.

As well, the director of Al-Sabeen Maternity and Childhood Hospital, Dr. Magda Al-Khatib, explained that the Siamese twins’ condition is critical and their travel abroad is necessary.

She noted that there is no response from international organizations to transfer them to receive treatment abroad.

100 thousand newborn children die annually:

The blockade imposed on Yemen leads to the death of 100,000 newborns annually, at a rate of 6 children every two hours, in addition to the death and damage of thousands of fetuses who are still in their mothers’ stomachs, and the rates of malnutrition among mothers are high due to the blockade.

Dr. Mutahar Darwish, Chairman of the Supreme Medical Committee, confirms that 400 sick children are registered on waiting lists to travel for treatment abroad, pointing out that the lists of registered children’s patients include children with cardiac deformities, cancers and tumors, all of which cannot afford to travel by land.

In this regard, he said that closing Sanaa airport is like a death sentence for thousands of patients registered with us and with medical centers, calling on international organizations to pressure to open Sanaa airport to the minimum humane, and we are ready to transport our patients without the need for the United Nations

Amira Al-Zaidi … an eyewitness:

Returning to the child Amira Al-Zaidi, the local authority was submitted a request to the United Nations office in Sana’a to allow the family of the three-month-old girl, Amira Al-Zaidi, to take her outside the country for her critical health condition. However, the coalition of aggression refused the UN request for permission to travel.

With the passage of time, Amirah passed away to be a living witness to the ugliness of the US-Saudi aggression, and the complicity of the international community, which refused to take any action, which sparked angry reactions on the communication sites.

The international community is addressing discrimination:

Through the two cases, it becomes clear that the international community, led by the United Nations, does not deal with any responsibility with the real issues, just as it always used to bias in favor of the parties that would benefit from it. 

The United Nations special plane to transport a worker in the international organization in Yemen after suffering a health problem, and transported the driver Lisa Grande, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Salem Muhammad Al-Sheikh, while thousands of Yemenis suffering from chronic diseases are waiting to be unable to leave Yemen to receive treatment.

Two months later, the United Nations UNICEF, which is one of the largest international organizations concerned with childhood issues, sent a special plane to transport a child belonging to a UN employee, while it refused to evacuate seven children with more deadly diseases within the private plane that arrived at Sana’a International Airport.

This case came within official notes sent by the Ministry of Health to the Humanitarian Coordinator, in which it expressed its hope that the seven very urgent cases would be transferred, along with the child for whom a special plane was sent, but UNICEF rejected the ministry’s request and threatened to stop its activities in Yemen if insisted. 

Resource: ansarollah website.

SH.A.