Field Hospital Established in Yemen

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) opened the Severe Climate Turkish Field Hospital in Aden, the temporary capital of Yemen.       

Upon the orders of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Ministry of Health sent a vessel named “Umudu Ol” (Be Their Hope) to deliver field hospital supplies to Yemen with help from the Turkish Red Crescent, and TIKA supplied the entire installation, including the area where the hospital was to be set up. The opening ceremony for the Severe Climate Field Hospital was held with the participation of Turkish and Yemeni authorities.

Those who attended included the Yemeni Minister of Health Dr. Nasir Baum, the Deputy Minister of Local Administration and the General Coordinator of the High Relief Committee Gamal Mahfuz Bil-Fakih, the Chief Physician of Sadaqa Hospital Prof.  Dr. Gamal Abdulhamid, TIKA’s Yemen Coordinator Abdullah Sarı, Turkish Red Crescent officials, the Technical Team of the Turkish Ministry of Health who were in Yemen to establish the hospital, and several Yemeni officials.

TIKA’s Yemen Coordinator Abdullah Sarı conveyed the greeting of the Turkish Government and TIKA President Dr. Serdar Çam and expressed that he hoped the war in Yemen would end as soon as possible. He said, “Upon the orders of our president, distinguished Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, one of the two 50-bed Severe Climate Field Hospitals to be established for our brothers and sisters in Yemen has been completed with the help of a 5-person medical team from Turkey in the yard of Es-Sadaqa Hospital.  The hospital, which is ready to serve our Yemeni brothers in sisters, has 1 emergency response unit, 1 operating room, 1 premedication unit, 1 intensive care unit, 1 laboratory, and 1 x-ray unit.”

Sari stated that the operating room offers gynecology, general surgery, orthopedic surgery and all local surgery operations; the emergency unit offers first examination, emergency intervention, and CPR services (resuscitation); the laboratory unit is suitable for tests; and the x-ray unit is suitable for taking x-rays of upper and lower extremities and the abdomen and lungs.  Sarı also added that patients who had undergone surgery in the intensive care unit and whose general condition was severe could be followed up and treated with monitoring devices, that patients and wounded individuals could be treated in the premedication and postop unit, and that newborn babies could be followed up and treated in the two incubators.

Yemeni Minister of Health Dr. Nasir Baum said, “We’d like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and all of our Turkish brothers and sisters for their continuous support in all areas.” Baum expressed that the Turkish people and government, alongside TIKA’s Yemen Office, supplied the most aid to Yemen by offering support and aid in various fields, and said that the fully-equipped Turkish hospital opened that day was a part of the continuous aid offered by Turkey.

Moreover, Baum stated that emergency cases would be directed to this hospital that has brand new medical equipment and supplies, and that just nearby, there was a fully-equipped dialysis center also established by TIKA. Turkey carries out relief projects in several provinces in Yemen, which has experienced worsening humanitarian conditions and infrastructure due to nearly three years of internal conflict, through organizations such as TIKA, the Turkish Red Crescent, AFAD, the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, and the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.