Houthis are kidnapping health workers

Sanaa-based medics informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi militias in Yemen are kidnapping health workers. It was probably that the kidnapping campaign restarted after that doctors rejected to help treating the injured fighters of the Iran-backed group at frontlines.

The sources stated that public hospitals, like Al Thawra General Hospital, are targeted for the arrest of their doctors and workers. In this context, Taha Al-Mutawakil, the health minister of the Houthi self-styled government, gave an order to a number of hospitals to establish a group of combat medics that would install to battlefronts and offer emergency medical treatment to injured soldiers.

Sources also reported that many in the health sector were ignored the order, and their refusal obliged Houthis to kidnap health staffers. They also noted that, in the last few days, more than 12 doctors and 17 healthcare contributors have been kidnaped from hospitals in Sanaa.

The discharge of administrative personalities

Furthermore, Houthi authorities dismissed many administrative officials in the health sector and substituted them with their loyalists.

After Al-Mutawakil’s appeal for recruiting emergency medics, registration process was open for positioning them to battlefronts in the governorates of Marib, Al-Jawf, Dhale and Hajjah. Indeed, Houthis exploit resources at hospitals, abduction doctors and stealing medical aid sent by international relief organizations.

A Sanaa-based health worker, who requested anonymity, complained to Asharq Al-Awsat, saying: At a time when the coronavirus is killing dozens, if not hundreds, of Yemenis living under militia rule, Houthis are pushing for more exploiting of health institutions and workers to serve their war effort.

The deterioration of health situation

Besides, the UN alerted, last week, of the imminent collapse of the health situation in Yemen. On its part, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated on Twitter: 20.1 million people in Yemen are in need of medical assistance. It also said that 51 per cent of the country’s health facilities were completely functioning, indicating that 67 out of 333 districts do not have doctors.