Emirates Mobile Clinics.. A humanitarian intervention that touches the pain of patients in Yemen
English - Thursday 03 August 2023 الساعة 10:43 am
Mukalla, NewsYemen, exclusive:
From the first moment of the outbreak of the Yemeni crisis, the United Arab Emirates hastened to adopt many humanitarian, relief and development projects aimed at alleviating the suffering of their brothers and alleviating the impact of the war and its devastating scourge.
Relief bridges on land, sea and air, which the Emirates operated through its humanitarian arms, in order to normalize the situation in the Yemeni governorates, and to meet the needs of the affected and needy people in various regions, which breathed life and restored hope to many who received this aid.
Many Emirati projects and initiatives that have reached remote areas far from city centers in several liberated governorates. Perhaps the most prominent of these projects, which went to areas that have not been reached by any relief projects before, is the running of mobile medical clinic convoys, which are still roaming various areas in the liberated governorates to provide free medical care within the humanitarian role played by the United Arab Emirates to alleviate the suffering of the population in these Regions.
From the areas of the western coast in Hodeidah and Taiz to Hadramout and other areas in liberated Yemeni governorates, the Emirates Red Crescent launched a humanitarian initiative targeting the people of remote areas deprived of the necessary health services, due to the distance of those areas from health centers and hospitals in the centers of districts and cities.
These mobile clinics, which touched the patients' pain, contributed to alleviating the suffering of many patients who find it difficult and difficult to reach health facilities for treatment. The medical staff accompanying the mobile clinics examine patients, conduct laboratory tests, and provide free treatments to help patients recover, especially children, women and the elderly.
Touching patients' pain
On a regular basis, mobile medical clinics visit the cities and villages of Hadramout, as well as the mountainous and rugged areas, defying obstacles and the hardship of movement to provide their great humanitarian services continuously without stopping and treating patients in those areas inhabited by thousands. Al-Himm, to follow up on their health conditions, discuss their needs, and provide medical assistance to them and their families through treatment, whether with medicines or medical equipment.
More than 100,000 cases from remote villages in Al Hudaydah Governorate benefited from the services of mobile clinics that were run from the western coast regions, since the launch of the initiative in August 2018, until the end of the year 2020.
The clinics, with their medical staff, reached 130 villages on the West Coast, inspected the conditions of citizens, and recovered patients from poor families who live in those remote areas, and it is difficult for them to reach city centers to receive treatment due to the dangers of the road and the lack of transportation, not to mention the exorbitant cost of access that the citizen cannot afford.
While about 25,000 citizens in isolated and remote villages in Hadramout benefited from the free medical and treatment services provided by the mobile medical clinics, from its inception until the end of 2022.
Salem Barmeel, Director of the Health Office in the Directorate of Brom Mayfaa, said that the Emirati mobile clinics are a humanitarian gesture that achieves noble goals and alleviates much of the suffering of patients in remote and disadvantaged areas. He explained that the areas of Brom Mayfaa were targeted as part of this relief initiative, which aims to deliver free medical and treatment services to the deprived and remote areas of the district.
Barmel emphasized that patients in remote areas benefit from these mobile clinics, which save them the hardship of reaching the health center or the main hospitals in Mukalla, and provide them with free examinations, examinations and treatments.
Life saving
Multiple specialties are included in the mobile clinics to provide integrated health services, including a specialist for treating children and others for treating diseases of gynecology and obstetrics, in addition to general doctors, a laboratory and a pharmacy, which makes these clinics life-saving in light of the deteriorating health conditions in the country.
The medical staff accompanying the clinics succeeded in saving the lives of many patients who live in those remote areas and seeing and treating the diseases spread among them, including: upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, anemia, high blood pressure, gastritis, acute tonsillitis, and dermatitis. , urinary tract infection, skin fungal infections, intestinal catarrh, chicken pox, and pinworms. In addition to the participation of these clinics in the campaign to combat fevers and dangerous epidemics such as malaria, cholera and dengue fever.
The numbers of patients benefiting from medical and treatment services range from clinics in each region, with the number of beneficiaries per day per visit ranging from 200 to 350 cases. According to the doctors working in the convoys, these are large numbers that reflect the extent of the significant deterioration in the health sector and the extent of people's need for the necessary care.
In previous statements by the Director of Humanitarian Operations for the UAE in Yemen, Saeed Al-Kaabi, he said that the idea of establishing mobile clinics was the result of the survey and field study of the disadvantaged areas, whose people face difficulty in accessing the necessary health services due to the interruption of services in health facilities as a result of the Houthi use of health facilities. As military sites and barracks, or because of their exposure to destruction and bombing, or because of their scarcity in remote villages, and the great need of citizens for health care.
Al-Kaabi explained that the mobile clinic contains a car equipped with the necessary equipment and supplies, in addition to a medical staff equipped with equipment and devices to check pressure, diabetes and other diseases, and the clinic contributes to providing primary health care for those who are difficult to reach and lack the most basic health and medical services.
He pointed out that the clinics target remote villages in remote areas, and not all of their residents are sick, but there are those who need health care and access to them saves them effort and trouble and travel long distances in order to receive primary health care, and here also comes the importance of the mobile clinic.
Recovery status health
The operation of mobile health clinics was not in isolation from the generous support package and projects adopted by the UAE in favor of reviving the deteriorating health sector, which faces great difficulties in returning to work.
The value of UAE aid provided to the health sector from 2015 to 2021 amounted to more than 2.67 billion dirhams. This support contributed to restoring life to normal in many health facilities, based on the importance of this sector in delivering health care to the needy groups in light of the repercussions of the war and the crisis.
There were many axes and aspects of support, including the establishment and reconstruction of infrastructure, which included the rehabilitation and maintenance of damaged and unqualified hospitals and health centers and helping them to rise and return to provide the necessary medical services. as well as providing other logistics services; Modern medical equipment and supplies, and supplying it with medicines and the necessary supplies, such as ambulances, generators, and water and sanitation services.
The support also included contracting with medical cadres and nurses to contribute to strengthening the health care service, and achieving a health reality that easily meets the needs of the population in the city, all the way to villages and rural areas. These efforts were accompanied by the implementation of awareness and education campaigns to raise health awareness and education, and to confront the spread of epidemics that kill the lives of citizens, such as malaria, dengue fever, cholera, and other fevers and epidemics that spread in the liberated areas in particular.
