PRESS RELEASE
Doctors Without Borders Removes Its Medics from Six Hospitals in Yemen Citing Danger from the Saudi/U.S. Coalition
Aug. 19, 2016 (EIRNS)—Doctors without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières) announced yesterday, that they are withdrawing all their staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen, following the July 15 attack on the hospital in Abs, by the Saudi-led Coalition, which, they stated,
"is the fourth and deadliest on any MSF-supported facility during this war, and there have been countless attacks on other health facilities and services all over Yemen."
Joan Tubau, the General Director of MSF said,
"MSF asks the Saudi-led coalition and the governments supporting the coalition, particularly the US, UK and France, to ensure an immediate application of measures geared to substantially increasing the protection of civilians."
But until then, the current protocols are inadequate, and the danger severe.
The six hospitals are in northern Yemen, in the Saada and Hajjah governates. The facilities will continue to operate, with volunteers and staff from the Ministry of Health, but their services were already stretched terribly. The evacuation of MSF personnel includes obstetricians, pediatricians, surgeons and emergency room specialists.
In the July 15 Saudi bombing of the Abs hospital in Hajjah governate, 19 people were killed, and 24 injured. The MSF states they have lost confidence that the Saudi-led Coalition will act to prevent such fatal attacks. The Aug. 18 MSF press release ends, "That medical staff and sick and injured people are killed inside a hospital speaks of the cruelty and inhumanity of this war."
On Aug. 17, a New York Times editorial titled, "America Is Complicit in the Carnage in Yemen," states that, "Saudi Arabia, which began the air war in March 2015, bears the heaviest responsibility for inflaming the conflict..." and that, "Mr. Obama agreed to support the Yemen intervention—without formal authorization from Congress—and sell the Saudies even more weapons." The Editorial Board concludes, "Given the civilian casualties, further American support for this war is indefensible."
