Thousands of Yemeni dialysis patients risk death: Red Cross

The International Red Cross has warned that thousands of Yemeni patients suffering from kidney failure risk dying unless dialysis centers across the war-ravaged country receive adequate supplies and their employees are paid.  

The International Red Cross has warned that thousands of Yemeni patients suffering from kidney failure risk dying unless dialysis centers across the war-ravaged country receive adequate supplies and their employees are paid.  

“An astonishing 25 percent of dialysis patients in Yemen have died every year since conflict began in 2015,” the International Committee for the Red Cross said on Tuesday.

“More dialysis supplies, functioning dialysis machines, and funding for staff salaries are urgently needed to ensure the mortality rate does not rise further for Yemen’s 4,400 renal failure patients,” the ICRC added.

“Without dialysis treatment, the outcome is fatal,” the ICRC’s head of delegation in Yemen, Alexandre Faite, pointed out.

The Red Cross noted that since the Saudi-led war on Yemen started in 2015, four dialysis centers have been shut down in the country and the remaining 28 facilities struggle to render services with broken machines, a lack of necessary supplies and unpaid staff.

Meanwhile, many patients have cut back their weekly dialysis sessions two instead of the recommended three.

The report comes as healthcare centers across Yemen are also running out of necessary medical items for cancer patients due to Saudi Arabia’s direct bombardment of medical facilities and its crippling blockade that has prevented the flow of medical supplies to Yemeni hospitals.