News - Yemen: Minister of Public Health and Population Wednesday announced that during the 7 years of the US-Saudi aggression and siege, the number of people with diabetes increased to about one million.

In his speech during the annual conference of the Yemeni Diabetes Association, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakel explained that the intense US-Saudi bombing of cities and the food imbalance as a result of the US-Saudi blockade and the economic war caused an alarming rise in the number of diabetic pateints.

He also indicated that the aggression is imposing the import of insulin, which needs fast and cool transportation conditions, through the unsafe port of Aden, which is very far from the large population bloc.

“The continued closure of Sana’a airport is a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of patients who need treatment abroad,” Dr. Al-Mutawakel said.

The Minister of Health stressed that the health sector is on the threshold of a halt with the intensification of the fuel crisis and the continuation of the US-Saudi aggression’s piracy of fuel tankers, stressing that the aggression’s piracy of fuel ships threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients due to the inability to reach the hospitals, which are threatened with closure.

He pointed out that the aggression used fuel as a pressure card, calling on the United Nations to impose respect for international law and neutralize the health sector.

Dr. Al-Mutawakel praised the performance of the medical staff during the years of aggression, saying that: The continuation of the medical staff’s work in light of the aggression, the siege, and the cutting off of fuel and salaries represents a basic building block for popular steadfastness and the coming victory.

Most of the population in Yemen lacks health care because of the destruction of health facilities in their areas or because of the lack of energy, medicines and medical equipment as a result of the siege imposed on them.

The fuel crisis compounded the situation and led to an almost complete paralysis of the health sector, threatening to close many of them, especially the private sector hospitals. Private hospitals in the capital, Sana’a, confirmed that the closure had become a serious issue, due to the lack of fuel.

The Ministry of Health in Sana'a has informed the international and UN organizations of the seriousness of the situation and the need for action to bring in fuel ships, and so far there is no positive sign.