Yemen's War-Torn Airports Trap Critically Ill Patients Seeking Life-Saving Treatment Abroad

Yemenis requiring urgent medical attention are facing dire circumstances due to recent fighting that has crippled the country's air travel infrastructure. Rajaa Ghirsan, a 50-year-old seamstress from Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital, struggles to breathe and speak because of airway obstructions. Her condition, including vocal cord paralysis and severe laryngeal complications, necessitates a neck device for airflow, which must be replaced every two months at a cost of $100. Ghirsan has undergone six operations in Egypt and India since 2006 but requires a complex surgery abroad to fully restore her airway. Given the limitations of Yemen's conflict-weakened health system, overseas treatment is her only option. After registering with the Higher Medical Committee in Sanaa, she spent seven years attempting to secure a seat on the once-weekly flight to Amman, a crucial route for Yemeni patients. However, repeated airport closures and air attacks have rendered this flight inaccessible. The long overland journey to Aden airport, her only alternative for international travel, is financially prohibitive.

"The device helps her breathe a little, but it has worn her out and taken away her rest for years," says Nouran al-Salawi, Ghirsan's 28-year-old daughter, who has been her primary caregiver while raising two children. "She is waiting for the moment she can have the last operation and be free of it, or she is waiting for death instead."

Ghirsan is one of many Yemenis who rely on Sanaa International Airport for access to medical care abroad. The airport, a vital air link for millions in the north under Houthi control, has faced repeated shutdowns since the Saudi-led coalition closed it to commercial traffic in August 2016. A UN-brokered truce in May 2022 allowed a limited resumption of flights, but Israeli air attacks in 2025 damaged the airport and destroyed aircraft. In July, Yemeni government forces, supported by Saudi Arabia, struck the airport's only operational runway to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. Currently, no regular flights depart from the capital. Aden, the base of the internationally recognized government and a key alternative for patients from the north, has also been targeted.

Anis al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Ministry of Health in Sanaa, stated that the repeated closures of Sanaa airport over the past decade have impacted approximately 400,000 patients, including 250,000 who require treatment abroad. These disruptions have also affected over 125,000 cancer patients, leading to critical shortages of medicine. "It has led to shortages of more than 1,600 types of medicine, including 12 cancer drugs that are barred from entering the country," he noted. "Additionally, more than 40,000 patients with thalassemia and haemolytic anaemia face shortages of iron chelation drugs and the intravenous solutions needed for their treatment."

Recent escalations in fighting between government and Houthi forces have led to new restrictions on the movement of aid and people. UN envoy Hans Grundberg recently informed the Security Council that the country has regressed into full-scale war. Aden's airport has been attacked twice this month, most recently on October 16, when two missiles landed near a Yemenia plane preparing for departure to Cairo. With Sanaa airport non-operational, Aden under attack, and unrest affecting Seiyun airport in Hadramout province, patients in northern Yemen have severely limited options.

Mohammed Shajara, 30, attempted to take his paraplegic five-year-old daughter to Tehran for treatment in June. However, they were stranded in Tehran when the government blocked Iranian flights to and from Sanaa in July, forcing their return without treatment. Aden was their next recourse, but the 14-hour journey from Sanaa involves navigating numerous checkpoints across front lines. The repeated attacks on Aden airport have made him hesitant to attempt the journey for now.

Abdulkarim Abdullah, 60, who suffered from kidney failure and relied on weekly dialysis in Sanaa, sought a permanent solution abroad. He was scheduled to fly from Sanaa to Amman for treatment, but the suspension of flights to Jordan left him stranded. With Seiyun airport also non-operational, the family considered Aden. Abdulkarim's brother, Mohammed Abdullah, incurred approximately $2,300 for the journey and flight preparations, including a $200 car hire from Sanaa to Aden, $500 for a hotel stay, $400 for security clearances for both brothers, and $1,200 for plane tickets. To fund this, Mohammed sold his brother's wife's gold and his own car. "Despite all of our efforts, my brother never made it to the airport. He died on the road to Aden in January," Mohammed recounted.

Fouad al-Haddad, director of al-Jumhuri Hospital in Taiz, reported that other patients have died while awaiting treatment abroad or due to domestic travel restrictions. "The closure of main roads around Taiz has forced travellers onto longer detours through mountain bends and rugged terrain, journeys that take more time and effort and that many patients are too sick to endure, on top of the security risks along routes close to the fighting," he explained. Approximately 147,000 people were displaced across Yemen in September, with over 80,000 relocating to Taiz, which is now hosting a significant number of those displaced by recent fighting.

Nadia al-Rashidi, head of the Hayat Jadida (New Life) organization in Hadramout, noted that flights from al-Rayyan airport in Mukalla to Aden, and subsequently to Cairo, now operate only once weekly. Al-Ghaydah airport in neighboring al-Mahra remains closed, while both al-Rayyan and Seiyun have only partially resumed operations. Travelers flying to Egypt and Jordan require security clearances, which can take about half a month to obtain through the standard process or $200 for expedited processing.

Aref al-Hawshabi, director general of the National Centre for Health Education and Media at the Health Ministry in Aden, stated that 1,170 patients from government-held areas have submitted medical files for treatment abroad under the ministry's free grants program. "The real need is far higher, because many patients are unable to submit their files at all," he said. Conditions requiring overseas treatment most commonly include cancers, blood diseases, bone marrow, liver, and kidney transplants, cochlear and corneal transplants, heart disease, scoliosis, and congenital reproductive system malformations.

Flight disruptions and airport closures critically delay these patients, especially those with fixed hospital appointments abroad. "Some who manage to leave then struggle to get home, staying abroad longer than planned on money they do not have, while others face problems entering India and Jordan even after clearing the obstacles at home." In September, Yemen's Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh warned that some areas might lose health services entirely due to funding shortfalls. He highlighted that 19.3 million people in Yemen need health assistance, but the response has received only 17 percent of the required funding, with dialysis and cancer treatment services being particularly at risk. There is currently no medical evacuation program in either part of the country. Doctors across Yemen are witnessing the severe impact of these travel restrictions on patients racing against time for treatment. "I see the price that Yemenis pay every day in the wards," said Fouad al-Haddad from al-Jumhuri Hospital. "What we have now are bodies exhausted by disease and medical needs that cannot be postponed."