A dialysis machine hummed inside the Republican Hospital in Taiz on Wednesday morning, filtering excess fluids and toxins from the blood of sixteen-year-old Omar Mukhtar Hammoud. He suffers from kidney failure and is one of 270 patients who regularly receive dialysis at the centre in this government-held city in southwest Yemen. Essential medical supplies and fuel are running critically low under a renewed Houthi siege. Doctors fear they will soon be unable to provide lifesaving treatment.
Dr Essam Mahyoub Dahan, the centre director, warned that a complete shutdown could happen within days. Staff have been forced to shorten dialysis sessions from four hours to just two and a half hours because of shortages of diesel and medical solutions. The reduction is necessary to keep the centre operating as long as possible before it stops completely.
Specialised dialysis solutions are normally provided by the Yemeni Ministry of Health every three months. The latest delivery failed to arrive earlier this month because of the Houthi siege on Taiz city, which began in the first week of October following Houthi advances in the surrounding countryside. The city previously endured a complete Houthi siege between 2015 and 2016 during the early years of the ongoing war.
Battles continue to rage across the Taiz governorate between Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Iranian-allied Houthi fighters. The governorate health office warned in an October 12 statement that the continued siege and obstruction of essential supplies endanger the lives of 1,110 patients with kidney failure. These patients depend on dialysis services across the governorate, which collectively provide about 210 sessions a day.
International humanitarian and health organisations have issued similar warnings about the fragile healthcare system in Taiz. Amnesty International called on the Houthis on Thursday to immediately reopen vital roads into and around the city. The organisation warned that the closure of the main route to the southern port city of Aden threatens hundreds of thousands of civilians with losing access to food, water and healthcare.
Hospitals in Taiz depend heavily on diesel-powered generators because much of the city electricity infrastructure was destroyed during the war that began eleven years ago. Dr Shaheed al-Ameri, deputy director-general for technical affairs at the Republican Hospital, said the facility has no reserve diesel supplies left and is forced to buy fuel on the black market at prices reaching five times pre-siege rates.
The hospital has already suspended operations in some departments, including essential units, according to al-Ameri. Diagnostics and treatment are heavily affected, with laboratory reagents falling to 15 percent of previous levels and half of standard medicines out of stock. Prices for remaining medicines have doubled, placing them out of reach for patients.
The World Health Organization warned on October 22 that critical shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines and medical supplies threaten lifesaving healthcare throughout the governorate. According to the WHO, 42 health facilities in Taiz city reported severe shortages, and hospitals require at least 156,000 litres of fuel a month to function. The restrictions threaten oxygen production, water pumping, vaccine refrigeration and sanitation services.
Taysir al-Samei, the health office media officer, warned that restricted fuel deliveries could shut down medical oxygen production plants. Many medical departments depend on oxygen, particularly operating theatres, inpatient wards, intensive care units and incubators for premature babies. Most hospitals have suspended services in some units due to fuel, medical solution, and staff shortages.
Continued fighting and shelling around Taiz have increased the number of wounded people requiring emergency care, placing extra pressure on facilities struggling with shortages of surgical supplies, anaesthetics and intravenous fluids. Fifty-three-year-old Abdul Badi Abdulwuhab, another dialysis patient at the Republican Hospital, said the shorter sessions leave him suffering from weakness and unable to bear the pain. He noted that two and a half hours is not enough to clear his body.
