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Will Yemeni girl keep her tryst with Tata Memorial?

Aden was peaceful when Hanadi landed there after 9 months of treatment. She has to desperately reach the hospital now for follow-ups

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Hanadi Ali Mosa (14) and her family would be praying that doctors at Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) should have kept her there a little longer. They were a happy lot on March 23, when doctors said they can return home – after nine months of chemotherapy treatment for blood cancer. The family is home now, but in a spot. “Violence in the Yemeni capital aggravated within 2-3 days of our arrival,” Hanadi’s father Ali (40) told dna from Aden. Ali is an English lecturer at the University of Aden. Hanadi has to undergo blood tests every two weeks to see if her blood cell count is under control. But in Yemen, priorities are different now.

In the last three weeks, the family has shifted three houses. Hanadi, father Ali, mother Ifthekaar (30) and three brothers – Mohanad (12), Ahmad (11) and Hadi (2) – stayed in an apartment in the neighbourhood of Masheeq in Crater area of Aden until three weeks ago. They had to leave most of their belongings behind and flee in a jiffy as shellings and firing intensified right across their house. “I packed my family in the car and decided to drive to my sister’s place in Al-Taqaniah. All we carried with us was Hanadi’s oral chemotherapy tablets. We could not have left those behind,” said Ali. A week ago, a missile struck the rooftop of Ali’s sister’s apartment. They were housed on the fifth floor. The missile brought down the sixth floor. They all ran to the ground for refuge. “For two days, close to 30 residents of the apartment were holed in the ground-floor apartments. We were advised not to go to the upper floors fearing the building might collapse. My cancer-struck daughter could not be kept in the crowd. She can catch infections easily,” said Ali. In three weeks, Ali has changed three homes in Aden to keep his family safe from attacks. “I went scrounging for a third place to seek shelter after my sister’s place got shelled. I was searching for a place to stay which will be a few minutes away from Al-Taqaniah, when I bumped into some acquaintances from the University of Aden. They were under the impression that I am still in India with my family. They took me to an apartment owned by a family who had fled to the village. We asked the owner if we could break the lock and enter the house. After the owner obliged, we sought refuge there,” said Ali. Hanadi’s health is not doing very well. “Her eyes have turned red and they water constantly. She has developed rashes and blisters on her body. It is very difficult to get a doctor in Aden. Most clinics and pharmacies are shut,” Ali said.

Images showing the destruction from the war in Yemen

Last week, Ali took Hanadi to Asalam hospital, a little far from where they were staying, for a blood test, by undertaking a huge risk. “I was shocked to see they were reusing needles and syringes for injections and extracting blood. I prayed with the doctor to use a fresh needle. Doctors are more bothered about patients who are gravely injured or have suffered burns. It is difficult to get them to conduct routine health check-ups. I am unsure if I will be able to conduct her blood checks after two weeks,” said Ali. “Hanadi needs to undergo a blood test at least every month to monitor her condition. She will have to return to India very soon for her follow up treatment,” said Dr Shripad Banavali, head, department of paediatrics, Tata Memorial.

Hanadi has to return to India in June for her follow-up, said Ali. But her family is worried that Aden may give Hanadi a deadly cancer-related infection. “The situation is so bad that my daughter may suffer from cancer-related infection if she is not flown back to a safe zone. We want to return to India early for her follow-up to avoid any complication which may undo all the efforts Indian doctors have put in,” Ali said. Ali said Yemeni locals are staying in the most pathetic conditions since the conflict began. “Streets are stinking as garbage has not been collected for weeks now. There’s no clean water. There’s power only two hours a day. And paucity of food will render us hungry in a few days,” he said. Until last week, Hanadi’s family was eating bread and rice twice a day for meals.

On Sunday, the main storage godown near the Aden port, which stocks wheat, was destroyed in air strikes. “We won’t get bread any more. They have destroyed the food grain godowns,” said Ali. “The nearby oil refinery, too, has been bombed. There is no diesel or gas. So, cars we used to escape will not run now. Instead of dropping food packets to help locals, Saudi Arabia and its allies are dropping arms and ammunitions for locals to pick up and fight against Houthis. The situation will only worsen by the day.”

India has evacuated 2,671 persons, including 946 foreign nationals, from Yemen. A senior defence ministry official said that India’s foreign policy does not allow evacuation of Yemeni nationals from war-torn countries. “If we evacuate or assist any local person, a question of alignment comes up. We are negotiating with Saudi Arabians and Houthis to allow us a safe passage near ports, so that we may rescue Indians and other foreign nationals who are not a party to the conflict. We have no contacts with areas under Al-Qaeda and hence it is difficult to rescue persons from there as we have no diplomatic contact with them,” said the official. The official explained that they were undertaking rescue operations for Indians and other foreign nationals with great difficulty. “Indian ships have not been allowed to enter Aden. Yemeni water crafts have been hired to rescue those Indians and foreign nationals who can somehow make it till the port,” said the official. “It is not just about a person who is sick or under heavy treatment. All persons in Yemen are suffering. There is no food in Aden city as they rely on imports. There is war going on in the harbour port area and therefore food cannot land in the country unless there is intervention at the highest level.” Meanwhile, Yemeni children, who were going to schools till a few weeks ago, are now learning numbers sitting at home by keeping a count on missiles, which strike their neighbourhoods, day and night.

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