UAE doctors save 3-yr-old Yemeni girl

hodeida — A four-hour operation carried out by the UAE Advanced Surgical team has saved the life of a three-year-old Yemeni girl who was seriously injured by a mortar shell fired by the Houthi militia.

The child, Sumaiya, was at her family’s home in the At Tuhayat district of Hodeida when it was hit by the shell, suffering serious injuries to the abdomen and intestines.

According to Dr Sultan Al Kaabi, head of the UAE Advanced Surgical Team that is operating as part of the Saudi-led Arab coalition, after the shelling, Sumaiya was swiftly taken to the UAE Field Hospital, currently operating on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, near Hodeida.

She had suffered cutaneous wounds in the abdomen and intestines from shrapnel from the mortar shell, he said, adding that she was in a serious condition.

During four hours of surgery, all of the shrapnel fragments were removed and her condition had been stabilised, he said.

She will now be provided with medical treatment until she fully recovers.

Sumaiya’s father later told the Emirates News Agency Wam that he was grateful to the UAE’s medical team for its prompt response and for its expertise which, he said, had saved his daughter’s life.

Following their recent defeat at the hands of coalition forces in the At Tuhayat district, the Houthi militia launched an indiscriminate campaign of shelling on the area in blatant contravention of international laws that criminalise the targeting of areas occupied by civilians, including children.

According to a Wam correspondent with the UAE Advanced Surgical Team, the team’s work is a key element in the humanitarian support being provided to residents of the liberated areas on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, through the provision of emergency medical treatment in the field and evacuation to the field hospital. — Wam