Yemen Facilitates Medical Flights For The First Time In Eight Years



In a breakthrough moment, Yemen agreed to let ailing patients be airlifted for immediate medical help 


Photo courtesy: WHO official regional report 


In the most surprising breakthrough in the Yemeni war, flights carrying patients that need urgent medical attention are being taken to Jordan. The movement has been facilitated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A WHO representative has said that this is really the first breakthrough in the ongoing effort to create a bridge of confidence in the war torn region.  Atleast 16 passengers have been flown, out of which a majority are women and children who are suffering from conditions like brain cancer and tumors, some needing organ transplants and reconstructive surgeries.

Supervised by the United Nations and WHO, the flights from Sanaa will go to Amman and Cairo in Egypt.

“It is hoped these flights will enable the opening of regular medical ‘bridge’ flights for sick patients,” said aid organization the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). “There is no justification for punishing very sick civilians by blocking them from accessing medical treatment.”

The airport has been closed ever since the civil war started in Yemen. However, due to the intervention of the Arab coalition, the airport was only accessible to the UN planes. That means that medical care was not accessible to the civilian population and there was no way for them to move out of Yemen, in case of immediate medical attention.



The medical flights were thus, a result of months of negotiations and the project had received an “extraordinary” amount of diplomatic support, U.N. Yemen Envoy Martin Griffiths said in an address to the UN Security Council in January 2020.

The Houthi authorities have cooperated with the UN and this has been made possible. 



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