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Hospitals in Yemen are struggling to cope with a surge in war-wounded patients amid critical shortages of medical supplies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday.
“Hospitals and health facilities are overwhelmed,” the ICRC said, citing an unprecedented increase in weapon-related injuries.
Yemen’s civil war, in which a Saudi-led military coalition backs the government against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, reignited in July amid a wider regional conflict.
“Trauma care staff are under enormous pressure,” said Feras Abusamra, the ICRC’s health coordinator in Yemen.
Only a small proportion of the country’s functioning health facilities can provide comprehensive trauma care, while frontline hospitals are treating large numbers of wounded people with limited supplies of surgical materials, anaesthetics, oxygen and medicines, he said.
Health workers are also struggling to maintain essential services for mothers, children and patients with chronic diseases while responding to the emergency.
Since the escalation began, the ICRC has delivered more than 500 tonnes of life-saving medical supplies to Yemen and provided emergency assistance, prosthetics and rehabilitation services for people who have lost limbs.
“Our concern is that the system may have little capacity left to absorb a major surge in casualties,” said Christine Cipolla, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that fighting had cut off humanitarian access to 800,000 people, as shifting front lines disrupted aid deliveries, particularly to Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city.
“The loss of access is especially alarming given that Taiz has some of the country’s highest levels of food insecurity,” the WFP said in a statement.
Across Yemen, more than 18 million people face acute food insecurity, while around 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, according to the agency.
“This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe,” said El-Khidir Daloum, the WFP’s country director in Yemen.
The WFP said it needed $268 million to sustain emergency food assistance and essential humanitarian logistics services in Yemen through 2027.