Houthi Violations Against United Nations Health Organizations and Local Drug Establishments



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Houthist coup militias continue their absurd war against the health sector in Yemen, sometimes targeting hospitals, closing and confiscating real estate and other property targeting pharmaceutical facilities and the health sector. the local pharmacy in general.

Thousands of health facilities have also targeted Houthi militias in their areas of bombardment, destruction, closure and misappropriation of military barracks and weapons depots. This information was collected by Asharq Al-Awsat from medical sources. and targeted international health organizations working in their control areas.

An official source of the Ministry of Health submitted to the Sanaa group in the "Middle East", which the Houthi militias recently declared as a regular war against MSF and other humanitarian organizations working in Yemen.

The source said the militia had prevented last Thursday the shipment of a shipment of medical aids belonging to Dutch Doctors Without Borders via Sana'a Airport. He added that "the Houthi state coup group has ordered the Minister of Health of the unrecognized state coup Taha al-Mutawakkil to close all the pharmacies belonging to the organization for reasons that have not been revealed, thus exceeding all the warnings of the UN aimed at blocking the entrance of humanitarian aid, whether it be food or medical to millions of needy people ". .

The militias also prevented Thursday a plane carrying medical aid from Doctors Without Borders to unload its cargo a few hours after arriving at Sana'a airport.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the militias had not revealed at least the reason why the plane had not been unloaded. In the same vein, Taha al-Mutawakil, the government's health minister of the coup leaders, ordered the closure of all the organization's medical equipment stores in Sanaa, as well as the confiscation of his content and the referral of prosecutions to the public prosecutor's office under the control of the group "

According to local observers, Houthi abuses against Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are only a prelude to their banning from operating permanently in their control zones, which will only increase the suffering of the Yemenis .

Observers, in their interview with "Asharq Al-Awsat", said that these violations were not new to the long-corrupted and destroyed terrorist militias of various sectors in Yemen (health, relief, education, economy, services, etc.).

As external health organizations have not been spared by abuses and militia militias, the internal health sector of hospitals, health centers and pharmaceutical establishments has not been spared by these abuse.

Local sources in the Sanaa municipality told Asharq Al-Awsat that militias began last week-end to carry out large-scale campaigns in the city's markets, targeting more than 2,500 local pharmacies and pharmaceutical facilities.

The sources pointed out that the goal of the militia campaign was, like previous campaigns, to blackmail their owners and force them to pay illegal taxes to elements of the group.

According to an employee of the city's health bureau, 10 militia field teams conducted a three-day campaign in the direction of the unit in Amanah on September 1, targeting 150 pharmacies.

The employee, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of oppression, pointed out that the Houthi campaigns had been accompanied by the closure of a number of pharmacies that did not respect militia orientations or pay royalties that were were imposed on them. He said that "the militia campaign is continuing and will reach in the coming days the rest of the pharmacies and pharmacies of the directions of the capital".

The Houthis targeted pharmacies and pharmacies in control areas only a week after the closure of more than eight private and private hospitals, the withdrawal of licenses and the removal of license plates from their facades, as well as the closing operations and intensive care units in 25 civilian and government hospitals to blackmail their owners and force them to pay illegal taxes. .

According to doctors and supporters of the case, since the Houthi gang invaded the capital Sana'a and systematically manipulated all sectors and institutions of the state, including the health sector, the militias waged a fierce war against the major importers of the approved drug as agents of international companies and forced him to cease its activities to replace it and create fake companies. And import drugs from Tehran whose specifications are poor.

Doctors told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the ongoing tightening of militias on drug addiction institutions in areas under their control is occurring at a time when local news and media are confirming the flooding of markets. with outdated and counterfeit Iranian medicines ".

According to information from medical sources, the militias have deployed factories equipped with Sanaa to distribute outdated Iranian medicines, stored in large quantities in stores located in the capital and the city of Dhamar.

According to reports, these drugs would be transported by sea to the port of Hodeida, then to Sanaa, where militias under the supervision of influential leaders will change the dates of validity and distribution on the drug market in the Yemeni governorates.

She pointed out that the Houthi medical teams overseen by Taha al-Mutawakil, Minister of Militia Health, are also identifying high-priced drug varieties and informing Iranian companies to produce low quality quantities that benefit Houthi price differences in the local market.

Doctors and pharmacists who informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the case had reached the Mafia and gangs of the group have attempted to falsify products meeting known international quality standards by contacting laboratories. in India and Iran, reproducing medical products and supplies for children.

Repeating repeated abuses by militias against United Nations health organizations, the target group for more than four years has been its coup with dozens of United Nations organizations providing humanitarian assistance to Yemenis, either by repressing them and forbidding them to function, either by blocking access to help. Complex restrictions and procedures against him. In mid-2017, militias prevented an UN-chartered plane carrying half a million doses of cholera vaccine from entering the Sana'a airport, which caused the worst epidemic of cholera in recent years, with more than a million cases. Cholera has suspected and killed about 3,000 Yemenis.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Muller, the Houthis, accused the militias of continuing to interfere in the work of organizations operating in areas under their control and imposed enormous restrictions on them .

In a statement earlier this month, the Security Council called for safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers and humanitarian aid flows to Yemen to prevent the diversion of humanitarian aid.

According to the United Nations, more than half of Yemeni health facilities are out of use due to the escalation of the war since March 2015.

According to Yemen's humanitarian response plan for 2019, 19.7 million people are in need of health care across the country, for a total cost of $ 627 million.

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