The Yemeni Ministry of Health has confirmed that the lives of thousands of diabetic patients are at risk due to a catastrophic lack of medicines, caused by the US-Saudi siege on Sana’a International Airport.
In a special statement to Al-Masirah News, the Vice President of the Diabetes Treatment Center, Dr. Abdulkafi al-Haddad, confirmed that one of the main reasons for the deterioration of the conditions of diabetic patients is the delay in arrival of medicines to them.
“Their effectiveness has been affected due to the conditions of transportation by land,” he explained.
He pointed out that diabetics are experiencing the true catastrophic results of the closure of Sana’a International Airport, stressing that insulin needs special transport and storage conditions to be effective.
Dr. al-Haddad added that “We examine more than 120 patients daily at the Diabetes Treatment Center,” noting that the total number of patients treated the center has reached nearly 29,000.
In turn, Director General of Financial Affairs at the Ministry of Health, Muhammad al-Kumaim, said that the available doses of insulin medication is only 150,000, and stressed that this number is not enough to supply the large numbers of patients for even just this coming year.
Al-Kumaim pointed out that the closingof Sana’a International Airport by the US-Saudi aggression has stopped the transport of medicines, and suspended their import, causing long waiting periods for their arrival in Yemen.
