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QRCS backs vital services for kidney patients in Yemen

Countries
Yemen
Sources
Qatar Red Crescent
Publication date

January 26th, 2020 ― Doha: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) is going on with its humanitarian support for those in need amid deteriorating conditions in Yemen. For the second year in a row, it has distributed medications for 150 kidney failure/transplant patients in Sanaa.

The project seeks to secure the vital medical supplies for the patients, as well as support catheterization procedures for kidney failure patients who have difficulty with regular dialysis sessions.

At the same time, food supplies were delivered to the charity catering center of Shafaqa Organization for Care of Kidney Failure & Cancer Patients. Around 212 kidney failure inmates of the organization’s accommodation premises would find enough healthy food.

Silent Suffering

Pain under dialysis machines. This is how kidney failure patients live in Yemen. No dialysis medications or solutions. Many dialysis centers are now shut down, or on the verge of shutting down. The available dialysis machines are insufficient to meet the demand for lifelong weekly sessions.

For kidney transplant patients, things are even worse. There is a severe shortage of immunosuppressive drugs, and postoperative care.

Five years of war and blockade put thousands of lives at serious risk, let alone their destitute conditions.

One of the beneficiaries of QRCS’s project is Aisha Abdul-Kareem Al-Nowaira, who expressed her gratitude for these medical supplies. “As a kidney transplant patient, I would like to thank QRCS and the benevolent donors who extended help to us,” said Ms. Al-Nowaira. “Due to the war, we lack indispensable treatment, and we cannot afford the costs of monthly immunity checks”.

“Suffering is shown clearly on our faces,” she added. “For six years now, I have been fighting with kidney disease. I do not have the money to purchase medications everyday for the rest of my life”.

Despite her agonies, Ms. Al-Nowaira looked optimistic and full of hope that this support would continue and expand to other basics of life.