Yemeni children with cancer die after being injected with expired doses: YOCHT

Dozens of Yemeni children with cancer died after being injected with expired doses of medicine at the end of September, said the Yemen Organization for Combating Human Trafficking (YOCHT) in a statement on October 5.

The organization said that the Ministry of Health of the Houthi government gave expired medicine to cancer patients at Kuwait Pediatric Hospital, pushing the hospital to transport them to ICUs at other hospitals. Some of the children died a few days after receiving the expired doses, while others remain in a dangerous condition, the organization said.

YOCHT also accused the Houthi government of selling free medicines and drugs provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the black market. It also accused the government of shelving the medicine until being expired and then re-labeling it with a new expiry date. 

The Houthi government was also accused of “covering up this crisis” by banning information about this incident being published, the organization said without mentioning the number of children who died or are still being treated.

Yemen, stricken with civil war for years, is suffering from poor health services, and Yemeni cancer patients are facing major problems due to unaffordable treatment, according to WHO.

About 35,000 Yemeni people, including children, have cancer, and more than 11,000 new patients are being added each year, WHO data showed in a report on September 20.

More than 1,000 Yemeni children are suffering from cancer, WHO said in 2019, noting that this figure makes up 12 percent of the approximately 11,000 new cancer patients annually.

“In Yemen today, we are dealing with the real threat that patients face imminent and painful death unless we continue to receive the support that will enable us to save their lives,” Dr. Abdulwahab Al Nehmi, WHO Noncommunicable Diseases Officer, was quoted as saying by the report.