By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS (AA) — Dozens of patients have taken off from the Yemeni capital Sanaa in search of medical treatment overseas in the first so-called “mercy flight” of the country’s civil war, the United Nations announced on Monday.
Addressing reporters in New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the flights to Amman, Jordan, were only a “temporary solution” designed to “reduce the suffering of the Yemeni people”, many of whom cannot get the treatment they need in the war-ravaged country.
“Today was the maiden voyage of the medical air bridge operation that brought a number of Yemeni patients out of an initial group of 30 along with their respective travel companions from Sanaa to Amman,” Dujarric said at UN headquarters.
“The remainder of the first group of 30 patients will travel in a second flight while more patients will follow on subsequent flights.”
Civilians suffering from various maladies have struggled to get treatment at Yemen’s bullet-ridden health centers for years. Flights out of rebel-held Sanaa have been blocked by the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting to restore the country’s ousted government.
Getting the patients airbound involved the cooperation of the World Health Organization, Yemeni health chiefs and the governments of Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, the UN said.
“Many UN entities and several governments in the region and around the world collaborated to get these patients the treatment they need abroad, and we are grateful to them all,” said Dujarric.
“The UN will do what it can to ensure the continuation of the medical air bridge as a temporary solution to reduce the suffering of the Yemeni people until a more sustainable solution is reached in the near future.”
Yemen has endured years of tumult since the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government from Sanaa towards the end of 2014, prompting military intervention in 2015 by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which sought to restore Hadi’s UN-recognized government.
The conflict has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 100,000 people dead and some 24 million civilians, or 80 percent of the population, needing handouts to survive. Aid groups aim to reach 15.6 million people this year, the UN says.