Yemen's Taiz hospitals overwhelmed as renewed fighting displaces thousands

Renewed clashes between Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed forces in western Yemen have displaced tens of thousands of people and placed fresh strain on a health system already short of medicines, staff and reliable power, health workers in Taiz province say.

At the Yemeni-Swedish Maternity and Children Hospital in Taiz, director Sami al-Sharabi said the facility has come under heavy pressure since the fighting intensified. "Recently, with what happened on the western coast and in the mountainous areas at Kadha and Waziyah, displacement increased and large numbers came to the hospital," he said. Paediatric admissions have risen sharply, he added, with a surge of cases in malnutrition wards, the general emergency department, the intensive care unit and inpatient beds.

Al-Sharabi said many families cannot cover the cost of reaching the hospital, let alone treatment and tests, and that the facility lacks the resources to absorb the demand. "There is no support from organizations, and there is no budget to support us so that we can provide these services better and free of charge," he said.

In Al Burkani displacement camp in Maafer district, a mobile health clinic run by the Taiz health office with UNICEF support has been examining children and mothers. Faida Mohamed al-Sagheer, a displaced mother from Waziyah district, said malnutrition was compounded by the cost of travel. "We cannot take them to the health facility because we cannot afford the transportation costs," she said, describing husbands who had left to retrieve belongings and not returned, and families unable to buy even a bottle of water.

Mokhtar al-Tamimi, director of the nutrition unit at the Taiz health office, said the malnutrition situation in the province was already catastrophic before the latest escalation, particularly in the western coastal districts of Mawza and Mokha, where severe acute and moderate malnutrition cases had been rising significantly.

Even before the renewed violence, hospitals in Yemen depended on limited government support and citizen donations. A World Health Organization report released in September said more than 19 million people in the country would need health assistance in 2026, but only 7.3 million — about 38 per cent — have been prioritised for the most urgent response because of a lack of resources.

The violence has also damaged or put out of service seven health facilities or pieces of equipment in Taiz, Lahj and Hodeida provinces near the fighting along Yemen's west coast, according to the World Health Organization.