Qatar Red Crescent Society Supports Health Facilities in Yemen

Doha, July 12 (QNA) - In partnership with Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has launched a project to provide comprehensive health care services for the vulnerable in Yemen, to support 10 health facilities in the governorates of Sanaa, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah, as well as the Khalifa Hospital in Al-Turbah, a town of Taiz. As planned, the new project will cover a total of 561,600 medical consultations for Yemenis over 30 months. For years now, the people of Yemen have been living difficult conditions, which rendered most of the health facilities out of order. QRCS is working on Phase 1 of the project, through a set of mechanisms that include providing staff remunerations and securing operational supplies. The lacked medical equipment, furnishing, medications, and lab solutions have already been procured, which helped to achieve a remarkable development in the public health system, at a time when the records of the target health facilities show an increase in the number of visitors who benefited from medical consultations, hitting 26,838 since the launch of the project in December 2020. In a statement, Deputy General Manager for Projects at QFFD Misfer Hamad Al-Shahwani said, "As a result of the successive conflicts and widespread epidemics, Yemen is in dire need of a rescue plan for the health systems. Pursuant to QFFD's priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure safe access to health services, QFFD and its strategic partners QRCS and UNFPA back the health sector of Yemen, by providing health services at 11 health facilities in Sanaa, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah". For his part, Manager of the 22 May Hospital in Amant Al-Asimah Dr. Nasser Mabkhot stated, "Prior to the intervention, the hospital was in a very bad situation. The services offered to visitors were of too low quality compared even to a health center. Since the beginning of March 2021, QRCS started to cover the payroll. This translated into better workflow and quality of service. The pharmacy was supplied with a good collection of drug classes, which helped to attract noticeably more visitors. Thanks to QRCS's support for the laboratory department, we are able to conduct more lab tests. Now, it can be called a hospital". He thanked QFFD, QRCS, and UNFPA for their assistance to boost the quality of medical services for all patients who visit the hospital from different areas, particularly the poor and vulnerable communities. In the same vein, Dr. Abdul-Rahman Ahmed Saleh, General Manager of the Khalifa Hospital in Al-Turbah, said, "Since its establishment in 1989, the hospital has been facing considerable challenges. It was originally designed to serve a population of 243,000. Today, it has to serve some 1.2 million people, due to the overpopulation and mass displacement," pointing to some related challenges, which made the hospital face a major financial and operational crisis, not to mention the obsolescence of medical equipment and supplies over time. The project is divided into four phases, the first of which had a cost of $1.7 million. In December, the project's agreement was signed by the three parties, for the benefit of the most affected groups in Yemen. (QNA)