Hospitals across Yemen’s Taiz governorate are struggling to maintain lifesaving medical operations due to critical shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines, and basic supplies. Urgent intervention is needed to protect thousands of patients as healthcare services face widespread disruption and stock levels drop to dangerously low levels.
In Taiz City alone, 42 health facilities have reported acute shortages. The crisis directly threatens more than 1,110 patients with kidney failure who require daily dialysis, 192 individuals in intensive care units, and 154 newborns reliant on incubators.
Without immediate replenishment, emergency surgeries, maternal care, and neonatal services risk total shutdown.
Hospitals and emergency transport services require over 156,000 liters of fuel monthly to maintain operations. The fuel deficit has compromised oxygen production, ambulance dispatch, and cold-chain storage for vaccines, prompting the Ministry of Public Health and Population to declare the situation critical.
Frequent communication outages continue to hinder efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) and local authorities to accurately assess remaining fuel reserves.
The health crisis is compounded by massive population displacement, with over 256,000 individuals displaced across Yemen between August 1 and October 19.
The lack of fuel has also disrupted water pumping and sanitation infrastructure, heightening the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases among displaced families.
Despite severe access constraints, humanitarian agencies are attempting to utilize alternative transport routes.
A Health Cluster partner recently delivered essential emergency medicines to Al-Thawra Hospital, while WHO has pre-positioned medical supplies, intravenous fluids, and sanitation materials in Aden for distribution.
WHO continues to work alongside local authorities to establish mobile medical teams, fixed health points, and 10 diarrhea treatment centers across five governorates.
The organization has reiterated its call for immediate, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, alongside urgent funding to prevent the complete collapse of essential healthcare services in Taiz.
