Corona virus: Medical workers in Yemen prepare for 'unspeakable' crisis amid war and Covid-19 pandemic
Sunday, June 28, 2020
UPDATimes - Yemen's health system is collapsing - making it difficult for the country to deal with the corona virus outbreak.
Dr Shalal Hasel is an official of the epidemiology monitoring department in the province of Lahj, Yemen.
Usually his work focuses on coping with the cholera outbreak, but now he works all the time to ensure Yemen prepares for the Covid-19 outbreak.
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Even though - at the age of 30 - he is young and energetic, he already sounds sad.
"You will know about the deteriorating health situation in Yemen - especially after the conflict and war. Hospitals here are limited and not equipped to handle corona virus cases."
To prove his point, he sent me some photos of doctors with imperfect aprons and masks.
"We lack adequate PPE (personal protection equipment). The rapid response team has received training in Covid-19 case management but they do not have personal protection. WHO [World Health Organization] must fill this gap."
WHO is providing relief equipment to what is called the "isolation center" in Yemen for Covid-19 patients.
Some of them are health facilities that are still operating, while the rest are some old buildings that were turned into emergency hospitals.
But even in that place there are many supply shortages, according to Dr. Hasel.
"We don't have an infrared temperature meter; there's a shortage of swabs to diagnose, even the monitoring team doesn't have an ambulance to be used for suspected patients."
Kids in yemen
'Fear on their faces'
Referring to WHO data, there are only four laboratories in Yemen that can examine the corona virus. The fifth laboratory is currently being prepared.
Mohamed Alshamaa from Save The Children was just as worried about what might hit hospitals in the country - only half operated as a result of the war.
"You can see fear on the face, not only doctors but also management. We have several doctors in one or two hospitals who have sent patients with normal respiratory conditions for fear they are a case of corona virus, because they do not have the right protective equipment. "
Currently Yemen only has 209 ventilators, 417 ventilators are being imported from other countries.
This is far from the thousands of ventilators that are owned or produced by developed countries.
Tamuna Sabadze, from the International Rescue Committee, said that of all the scenarios, the most likely thing to happen was that Yemen needed at least 18,000 intensive care beds.
"And even if you get a ventilator, you can't run it if you don't have electricity - there is often no generator or, if there is no fuel to run it."
Dense places
So far, Yemen has been fortunate - there have been only a handful of cases in the country.
The first case was recorded in Hadramaut province. Five other cases occurred in Aden, according to the emergency commission tasked with monitoring the pandemic.
WHO says all necessary contact tracing is done.
A total of 177 people were monitored - including 36 who were considered high risk. But there are no experts who hope it ends there.
In addition to lack of equipment, there are concerns about public health awareness - or rather lack of public health awareness.
With the weakening of the government due to the war, no strong preventative message was issued by the authorities as in other countries.
Most are cultural, said Dr. Hasel.
"Yemenis are gathering in our crowd and our market - especially the khat market (a popular herbal stimulant in Yemen) - is full and the streets are very narrow. Even health facilities are crowded with people.
"All of this makes the application of constrained distance."
Then there is a porous border problem, he added.
"Yemen has many African immigrants who enter illegally and they risk public health if they are not examined or monitored. There are also Yemeni expatriates in neighboring countries who are smuggled back and forth across the border. They carry risks too.
"Maybe one of them has the corona virus and then it mixes with the general public and nobody knows about it."
One of the things that Tamuna Sabadze is focusing on at the International Rescue Committee is the restoration of sanitation facilities and equipment distribution
"It's good to say 'wash your hands!' but that's not easy in Yemen. Fifty percent of the population doesn't have access to running water. "
Shortly after we spoke, flash floods hit Aden which made the task of providing clean water even more difficult.
'Nobody can go to the hospital'
Returning to the Saana office of Save The Children, Mohammed Alsamaa is worried about the country's lack of supplies and personnel since Yemen's airspace was closed in mid-March.
Mohammed's staff lacked three humanitarian workers who were accidentally expelled.
He also worried that food supply would be interrupted by closure. Yemen has become a country where malnutrition occurs.
Amid fears of contagion, there was a glimmer of hope in April when a ceasefire was announced by the Saudi-led coalition, which was battling Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The ceasefire was extended for another month but the rebels did not accept it yet and Mohammed told me that the fighting continued secretly.
"There is still tension everywhere. It's more urgent than ever that the conflict stops. Nobody can go to the hospital or clinic if there is a war and this outbreak - when it comes - can become unspeakable."
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