Cold diseases kill children amid low household incomes
English - Sunday 10 January 2021 الساعة 04:18 pm
Sanaa, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
Cold diseases and their complications have spread remarkably among children in Sana'a and the neighboring governorates, amid the high prices of curative examination and medicine, and the low level of per capita income to the lowest level.
At the gate of the Republican Teaching Hospital in Sana'a, Umm Ahmad accompanies 3 of her children, who suffer from pain in the ears, throat and nose, and it is believed that they have been exposed to severe cold strikes during the past few days.
Since its coup in September 2014, and its seizure of state institutions, the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - has transformed official hospitals in Sana'a into revenue institutions by raising the prices of health services in a way that exceeds the citizens' ability and level of income.
Speaking to (NewsYemen), Umm Ahmad (a government employee) complains about the high prices of winter clothes for children, and the inability of most families in their social surroundings to buy protective clothes from the cold waves that hit Sanaa and the neighboring governorates.
She also pointed out that the prices of health services in government hospitals have also become extremely high prices. “Today I needed more than 10 thousand to see 3 children,” in contrast to the value of treatment and medicines, which she said would try to buy only half of the medicines.
Umm Ahmad assumes that health services in government hospitals will be kept free of charge and the value of medicines will be reduced, in light of the continuing interruption of employee salaries and the deterioration of economic and living conditions.
According to workers in the health sector in Sanaa, the revenues of hospitals and government medical centers in Sana'a and the governorates under the control of the coup militia reach tens of millions of riyals per hospital daily.
