Brain drain leaves Yemen’s health sector in tatters

Ahmed Nagi, a Yemeni man in his 50s, had worked for more than 30 years as a porter in al-Turbah market in Taiz governorate before disaster struck.

Now, Nagi can hardly move without the aid of a walking stick, which he relies on whenever he leaves the house.

“I was told by doctors, who are not liver specialists, that my liver isn’t functioning properly, but they weren’t sure if that is the root problem. It has left me barely able to walk, and sometimes I can’t move at all,” Nagi told Al Jazeera English.

Nagi was only able to afford care at a local hospital, but he was told that to treat his condition properly, he would need to seek specialised care at a medical centre in the capital, Sanaa, or Aden.

For a man reliant on the charity of others to put food on his table, paying for medical treatment in another governorate is nearly impossible.

Yemen suffers from a severe shortage of skilled health workers, with 18 percent of districts across the country completely lacking doctors, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Yemenis who can afford medical care overseas now travel to Egypt, Jordan, India and other countries for treatment.

Those without funds have no option but to seek treatment at home – but nearly 12 years of war and other challenges have seen a massive brain drain from Yemen, decimating the country’s health sector. 

The impact on the country’s healthcare has been profound.

Today, Yemen’s physician ratio stands at a mere 0.1 doctors per 1,000 people, according to the World Bank, far below the regional average of 1.1.

By comparison, the global average is 1.9, and the Arab world sits at 1.2. Other fragile, conflict-affected regions average about 0.5.

As an emergency measure and to fill gaps in critical and specialised medical care, hospitals have started to recruit foreign doctors, including from Syria.

 -Al Jazeera