The treatment of COVID-19 in Yemeni hospitals has been experiencing disruptions due to fears on the end of both doctors and patients to contract the virus, with the former lacking personal protective equipment to continue working and the latter avoiding asking for help until it is too late, Marc Schakal, MSF Deputy Operations Manager for Yemen, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2020) The treatment of COVID-19 in Yemeni hospitals has been experiencing disruptions due to fears on the end of both doctors and patients to contract the virus, with the former lacking personal protective equipment to continue working and the latter avoiding asking for help until it is too late, Marc Schakal, MSF Deputy Operations Manager for Yemen, told Sputnik.
Last week saw a spike of deaths of people with symptoms typical of the coronavirus infection in the southern Yemeni city of Aden.
"In Aden, we see that people are really scared of the virus. Other hospitals have closed because the staff are scared and cannot protect themselves," Schakal said.
According to the MSF official, many doctors in Aden have already become sick and it has intensified the pressure on the hospitals that continue to work.
Another challenge, as stated by Schakal, is that patients with severe breathing problems often reach out to seek help very late, "apparently having been too scared to go to the hospital."
"It makes it so much harder when they arrive long after they should. The mortality rate is high," Schakal said.
A total of 132 cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Yemen so far, and 21 people have died, according to the latest situation report by the World Health Organization.
