The increase of violence and fighting since last Saturday in southern Yemen has led to a high number of victims and wounded among civilians. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have received and treated eight severely injured patients at Aden hospital, transferred from Jaar Health Post, and 43 were received at Lawdar Hospital.

Since Saturday, MSF has seen an increase in the number of patients admitted in health facilities in Jaar, Lawdar and Aden, following a new wave of violence and fighting around Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan governorate, and Lawdar, 160 kilometres northeast of Zinjibar. MSF is concerned about the fate of civilians caught in the bombings and asks all parties to respect the security of the population and people allow access to health facilities.

In Jaar, Ministry of Health staff, supported by MSF, have opened a health post in a local post office, providing basic emergency care. Staff in Jaar have continued to work during the last few days, despite often being unable to transfer any emergency patients, get necessary medical supplies or communicate with Aden. The exact number of patients treated since the beginning of the fighting is still unknown but teams have been recently able to transfer four patients to Al-Hosn and eight to the MSF surgical centre in Aden. All eight patients referred are in very serious condition. They are all civilians with bomb blast related injuries.

Forty three patients have been treated at Lawdar Hospital since Saturday, but Ministry of Health and MSF teams have been unable to carry out any referrals because of road blockages. MSF started working in Lawdar’s emergency room and maternity ward in January 2012 so because of the limited care people were receiving due to the relative isolation of the area caused by surrounding conflicts and instability. During 15 days of heavy clashes in April more than 200 heavily injured people were received in the emergency room in the Lawdar Hospital.

Since January 2012, more than 3.000 patients have been treated at the Jaar health post and more than 1.500 in the Lawdar emergency room. More than 200 acute cases that could not be treated in Abyan region were referred to Aden for medical care. More than a third of these cases were trauma cases related to violence, the vast majority of them civilians.

MSF has been working in Yemen since 1994 and continuously since 2007. Today, the organization conducts medical and surgical activities in the governorates of Amran and Hajjah in the north of the country, as well as in Aden, Lajh, Abyan and Al Dahle, in the south.

For its activities in Yemen, MSF does not accept funding from any government and relies solely on private donations.