Yemen: Medical Supplies and Staff Reach Aden, but More Help Needed

MSF

SANA'A, YEMEN/NEW YORK—A boat carrying urgently needed medical supplies arrived today at the port city of Aden in Yemen, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which operates a hospital in the city, announced.

The 1.7 tons of essential medical supplies arrived on a boat from Djibouti and will be used to treat large numbers of wounded people admitted to MSF’s Emergency Surgical Unit in Aden. The supplies include anesthesia drugs, injectable medications, and surgical materials.

A five-person MSF emergency surgical team also arrived in Aden, aboard an International Committee of the Red Cross cargo ship. The team will provide much needed support to existing staff at the Aden facility.

“We are pleased that the medical supplies and staff have arrived safely given that there was a real risk of supply shortages and that the team at the hospital was exhausted,” said Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, head of mission for MSF in Yemen. “But with the violence continuing to cause large numbers of casualties, more supplies and medical staff are needed.”

In the coming days MSF is planning to send a charter plane filled with medical supplies to Sana’a.

The MSF Emergency Surgical Unit in Aden has received more than 600 wounded patients since the escalation of violence on March 19.

Read an Account from MSF's Hospital in Aden: "We Have Been on Lockdown Inside the Hospital"

MSF medical supplies reach Aden by boat.
MSF