Skip to main content
MSF Aden trauma hospital

Medical admissions in Aden suspended after patient kidnapped and killed

War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
Learn more
  • We have put on hold the admission of all patients to Al Sadaqah hospital in Aden following the kidnapping and killing of a patient.
  • The latest incident follow a series of threats and security incidents involving patients and staff.
  • We are very worried about the deteriorating security situation during an extremely busy period for the hospital.

On the morning of 2 April 2019, a group of armed men threatened guards and medical staff at Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) emergency trauma hospital in Aden, Yemen before entering the building and kidnapping a patient who had been admitted the previous day and was due to undergo surgery. Later the same day, the patient was found dead on a street in the city’s Al Mansoura district.  

This incident follows a number of threats and security incidents, involving both patients and staff, which have occurred since the start of the year at our hospital in Aden. It comes at a time when the hospital is particularly busy as a result of escalating violence in Aden.

We are extremely worried by the deteriorating security situation inside Aden and its consequences for our medical activities. Caroline Seguin, MSF’s programme manager for Yemen

“Following this incident, we have no choice but to suspend the admission of patients until further notice,” says Caroline Seguin, MSF’s programme manager for Yemen. “Over recent weeks, the hospital has been functioning at full capacity, particularly the emergency room and intensive care unit, following an escalation of violence in the city.”

“This suspension comes at a critical time for patients and their families from Aden, as well as patients from Hodeidah and Taiz governorates, from where we receive war-wounded in need of urgent surgical care on a daily basis,” says Seguin. “We are extremely worried by the deteriorating security situation inside Aden and its consequences for our medical activities, as incidents like these endanger the lives of both patients and staff.”  

MSF teams have been working in Al Sadaqah hospital in Aden since 2012. Since then, they have provided more than 30,000 emergency consultations to patients coming from various regions affected by fighting, including Abyan, Taiz and Hodeidah governorates.

Yemen: Seven years in the life of our trauma hospital in Aden

Médecins Sans Frontières has maintained a constant presence in Yemen since 2007. Following an uprising in 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, we started working in the south of Yemen. Teams worked in Taiz and Ad Dhale to treat people injured during demonstrations and supported the emergency rooms of Razi hospital in Abyan governorate.

In April 2012, we opened our trauma hospital in Aden. During the war, this facility has remained one of the few functioning hospitals in the city. Dr. Fares has been performing surgeries at the trauma hospital in Aden since 2012, when he joined MSF. He told us the story of this hospital coping with conflict.

During the battle for Aden in 2015, MSF’s hospital was one of a very few surgical facilities still functioning inside the city. Between March and August 2015, our teams treated more than 2,800 war-wounded at the hospital. During this time, MSF teams also ran an advanced emergency post and surgical mobile clinics in the city in order to stabilise the war-wounded and improve their chances of survival.

In 2018, we increased the capacity of Al Sadaqah hospital to 104 beds to respond to an influx of war-wounded following the Hodeidah offensive. During 2018, MSF teams provided more than 6,000 emergency consultations and performed 5,400 surgeries at Al Sadaqah hospital, 90 percent of them violence-related.

In Yemen, MSF teams work in 12 hospitals and provide support to more than 20 health facilities located in 11 governorates: Abyan, Aden, Amran, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Ibb, Lahj, Saada, Sanaa, Shabwah and Taiz.

Up Next
Yemen
Photo Story 3 September 2019