Lack of Funding Forcing Some Hospitals in Yemen to Shut Down
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hospitals and medical centers in parts of Yemen are on the brink of closure due to a lack of funding, a government official said Wednesday.
"A number of public hospitals in southern regions and the beleaguered northern province of Marib may stop offering health care services during the upcoming days as they are facing complicated financial problems," the local government source told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.
He indicated that other public hospitals in the country's northern provinces are facing the same obstacles.
On Tuesday, the Saba news agency said that the only public hospital offering care to mothers and children in Marib has warned it may shut down at the end of September due to a lack of budget, after the withdrawal of international organizations that used to provide salaries for 65 staff including doctors, technicians and nurses.
The Saudi-led coalition launched a war on Yemen in late March 2015 aimed at crushing the Ansarullah resistance movement and re-installing the former Riyadh-friendly regime in the Yemeni capital Sana’a within weeks, but Riyadh continued the war after failing miserably.
The Saudi-led coalition has been mainly using airstrikes to attack Yemeni targets, including residential areas in the capital Sana’a and elsewhere around the country. The coalition has received logistical and intelligence support from the United States, Britain, and France.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, destroyed the infrastructures and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.