COVID-19: A catastrophe is unfolding in Aden, Yemen

People are arriving late to our hospital

The centre that we run in the city is the only dedicated COVID-19 centre for the whole of southern Yemen.

From April 30 to May 17 we admitted 173 patients, at least 68 of whom have died. Many patients are arriving at the centre already suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome, making it hard to save their lives and suggesting that many more people are sick at home.

Government burial statistics also reveal that as many as 80 people have been dying in the city per day in the past week, up from a pre-outbreak normal of 10. Furthermore, the number of healthcare professionals we are treating in the centre and the many members of our own staff that are sick has gone up.

“What we are seeing in our treatment centre is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of people infected and dying in the city,” said Caroline Seguin, MSF’s operations manager for Yemen. “People are coming to us too late to save, and we know that many more people are not coming at all: they are just dying at home. It is a heart-breaking situation.”

Struggling to provide care in a healthcare system that's already collapsed

A team of Yemeni and international staff is working around the clock to provide the best care they can at the treatment centre in Aden, which we have been fully managing since May 7. “The high level of mortality we are seeing amongst our patients is equivalent to those of intensive care units in Europe, but the people we see dying are much younger than in France or Italy: mostly men between 40 and 60 years old,” continued Seguin.

Aden was already struggling with a healthcare system that had collapsed after five years of war in Yemen before COVID-19 arrived, and the authorities lack the means to properly respond to the outbreak. There is no money to pay staff, little personal protective equipment, and very few tests, so the exact numbers of cases cannot be known. The patients we see dying clearly have the symptoms of COVID-19, however.

“Hospitals have had to close elsewhere in the city or are refusing certain types of patients because staff members lack the personal protective equipment to keep them safe, which leaves us very concerned about the knock-on effects of this outbreak on other types of illnesses,” said Seguin.

MSF will continue to provide care in Yemen

Our trauma hospital in Aden is still open, and has seen an increase in the number of admissions since other hospitals started closing. We have instituted triage and other protective measures to keep staff and patients safe at the hospital as much as is possible. Any staff member who begins to show symptoms is immediately sent home to self-isolate.

“We are doing all that we can, but we cannot face this virus alone,” said Seguin “It would be unconscionable for the world to just leave Aden and the rest of Yemen to face this crisis by themselves.”