ICRC Opens COVID-19 Care Center In Yemen Ahead Of Looming 2nd Wave

The Red Cross and Red Crescent family has established a medical center for treating COVID-19 patients free of charge in war-torn Yemen in a bid to improve the country's health care system ahead of a possible second wave of the pandemic, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a press release on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2020) The Red Cross and Red Crescent family has established a medical center for treating COVID-19 patients free of charge in war-torn Yemen in a bid to improve the country's health care system ahead of a possible second wave of the pandemic, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a press release on Monday.

"In an effort to boost a health system devastated by war, the Red Cross and Red Crescent family on the 20th of September, opened a free treatment centre for COVID-19 patients in Yemen, which has suffered from a high rate of death from a crippling first wave of COVID-19," the press release said.

The 60-bed center has been set up on the premises of Al Joumhouriya hospital in the southern city of Aden by the ICRC, the Norwegian Red Cross and Finnish Red Cross (FRC), with the support of the Yemen Red Crescent Society. It includes an X-ray room, a high dependency unit, care wards, a triage area and a laboratory.

The NGOs have also set up a referral system for patients from rural areas to the Aden COVID-19 center in coordination with other health care providers and health authorities.

In addition, more than 100 locals and 20 international medical and technical staff have been hired to work at the facility.

"The ongoing hostilities and a lack of medical supplies have forced the shutdown of many health care facilities in Yemen. The health system has been struggling to provide basic care for hundreds of thousands of people whose lives threatened by potentially curable diseases, malnutrition and war-related wounds. A lack of electricity, fuel and a high level of inflation that makes food, medicine and other basic goods almost unaffordable for most of the communities, have all combined to make life extremely difficult," the press release added.

The ongoing armed confrontation in the middle Eastern country between the central government forces and the rebel Shia Houthi movement has been holding back adequate accounting for the coronavirus cases, as well as a timely response to outbreaks. So far, the country has reported more than 2,000 cases, including over 580 fatalities, according to the World Health Organization.