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Yemen

QRCS Provides Oncology Medicines in Yemen [EN/AR]

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March 25th, 2017 ― Doha: Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS) has delivered cancer medications to Yemen's National Oncology Center. The $118,630 medical supplies were donated by Qatar's Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). Dr. Abdul-Wahab Al-Nahmi, Director of National Oncology Center, thanked QRCS and the State of Qatar for this vital support, as the center suffers shortages in many chemotherapy medicines. "Thousands of cancer patients have difficulty finding their prescriptions. Good luck for QRCS in its humanitarian work in Yemen," he maintained. The only government cancer hospital in Sanaa, this center is the only hope for the families of patients, who can never afford to send their children abroad for treatment. Since its establishment in 2005, the National Oncology Center has diagnosed and treated more than 60,000 patients. The need for the center has become more significant than ever for Yemen due to the lack of available cancer care outside the capital. The lack of availability of medicines and diagnostic supplies is a direct result of the war. Pharmaceutical merchants and the humanitarian sector have not been able to import the much-needed supplies in anything touching the quantities needed. In addition, the collapsing economy has meant that budgets across the government sector have been stretched to a point that the center has been unable to meet even basic running costs. The center is now at a point where its closure seems like the only option, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned. A few months ago, QRCS delivered a donation from Qatar's Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to the National Cancer Control Foundation's (NCCF) Al-Amal Oncology Center in Taiz. Consisting of 13 types of effective medications, the donation benefited more than 370 cancer patients.