Yemen fighting overwhelms hospitals, cuts aid to 800,000 people, relief agencies say

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in war casualties, while intensified fighting along multiple front lines has ​cut off aid to around 800,000 people, humanitarian agencies said ‌on Wednesday.

Front-line hospitals in areas including Marib, Taiz and Yemen’s Red Sea coast are seeing unprecedented numbers of weapon-wounded patients, with some facilities admitting more than 700 casualties in a single week, according to the Red Cross.

More than 200,000 ‌people ​have been displaced from their homes since ⁠fighting in the country began ⁠in recent weeks, sparked by renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration.

“Trauma care staff are under enormous pressure,” ICRC health ​coordinator Feras Abusamra said in a statement. Only a small proportion of Yemen’s functioning health facilities are capable of providing comprehensive trauma ⁠care, he said, while hospitals face ⁠large numbers of wounded people amid shortages of surgical ​supplies, anesthesia, oxygen and medicines.

Yemen’s health services, battered by more than ​a decade of conflict, economic crisis, displacement and disease outbreaks, ‌may have limited capacity to absorb a new surge in mass casualties if fighting intensifies further, the ICRC warned.

The fighting has also cut off life-saving humanitarian assistance for 800,000 people in Taiz – Yemen’s third-largest city, ⁠which currently hosts the largest number of people fleeing the fighting – and other areas impacted by the conflict, the UN World Food Programme said on ⁠Wednesday.

Some districts are now ‌inaccessible because of fighting and road closures, the WFP ⁠said, adding that wheat flour stocks are nearly ​exhausted ‌and remaining food in local markets may last ​only a ⁠short time.

“This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most,” said El-Khidir Daloum, WFP Representative and Country Director in Yemen, in a statement.

(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Linda Pasquini ​and Toby Chopra)