Yemen: MSF concerned about strikes impacting people’s access to healthcare
Series of incidents further restricts humanitarian access, provision of medical care to people in Yemen
This morning, Mon., Oct. 26, three strikes hit the coastal area of Mocha. One of them fell only 150 metres away from the Mocha general hospital where Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are working in the maternity and pediatric wards. While all staff and patients are safe, the strike caused damages to the building that may weaken the structure in the longer-term. The building was already severly damanged by years of regular blasts. The strike also created panic among patients, medical staff and civilians, further limiting their safe access to healthcare. Such incidents are preventing patients from coming to the hospital, fearing for their lives: with every strike around the hospital, we see a decrease in the numbers of patients coming to seek care.
A few days earlier, while an MSF plane was about to take off from Aden’s airport on a routine flight intended to carry humanitarian workers, a missile hit the vicinity of the airport. The plane was forced to stay on ground and the staff were asked not to board but seek shelter inside the airport instead. Aden’s airport is the main entry point for humanitarian workers, supplies and medical equipment to the southern parts of Yemen, and accessing it safely is crucial.
These incidents, among other, are exposing MSF and other humanitarian organizations in Yemen to more threats, directly impacting the ability to act quickly to reach people. This is happening at a time when people’s needs are highest and the provision of humanitarian care is essential.
We reiterate to all parties to the conflict that humanitarian and medical workers, as well as medical facilities and patients and their access to care, must be protected.
