Minister of Health Demands Complete Opening of Sana’a Int.l Airport
The Minister of Public Health and Population demanded Monday the entry of medical teams through Sana’a airport, due to the inability of many patients to bear the expenses of treatment abroad.
Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakel explained to Almasirah that the US-Saudi aggression used the cut of salaries to attract about 70% of the medical staff, threatening the public medical sector to stop.
He pointed out that the medical sector’s need is the complete opening of Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeidah
He stressed that tumors and fetal malformations are considered the majority of diseases in Yemen due to the effects of the intense US-Saudi bombing and the prolonged siege.
Opening Sana’a Airport is pivotal for the arrival of medical equipment and refrigerated medicines, which the aggression prevents from entering through the airport and it is not possible to transfer them through land or sea ports.
In early April, after Yemen’s Supreme Political Council declared a voluntary and unilateral three-day pause in retaliatory strikes against targets in Saudi Arabia, the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced the nationwide ceasefire, for the first time since 2015.
The UN-sponsored truce guaranteed the lifting of the siege on Sana’a Intl. Airport for limited flights, but the entitlement faces various challenges. These early measures for travelers and patients are useless in the face of the complexities of the US-Saudi aggression.
However, in light of UN silence, the Saudi-led aggression was still obstructing flights to the Sana’a International Airport in Yemen’s capital and detaining fuel ships that were headed to the country. The fires of the aggression side did not subside along the fronts, on the borders and inside, including shelling, reconnaissance, development and crawl.
According to the Higher Medical Committee, 1,600 patients are expected to travel to Jordan and Cairo if the flights are regular. Nevertheless, patients can obtain the right to health care without cumbersome and costly complications.
Only one flight to Cairo was carried out, and no additional trip took place. The announcement of flights to Cairo has been stopped, and things are still ambiguous.
Sana’a Intl. Airport, in turn, continues to list the complications that the aggression continues to create in front of flights. Skipping flight scheduling, late notification, and delaying transit permits wastes the maximum benefit from flights for citizens.
For 6 years, Yemenis were deprived of their right to travel to seek medical care, work or study, and the expatriates were cut off from the means of return. Today, these people lack a mechanism that guarantees their return to the homeland completely away from the restrictions of the Saudi-led coalition.