Faulty drug kills at least 10 child leukaemia patients in Yemen’s rebel-held capital

SMA NEWS – SANA’A
At least 10 child leukaemia patients in Yemen have died after being given expired doses of a cancer treatment in the rebel-held capital Sanaa, medical officials and staff have said.

The children were among a group 19 of patients aged between three and 15 and died at Sanaa’s Kuwait Hospital after being injected with old doses of smuggled medicine at a number of private clinics, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels’ health ministry said on Thursday.

It said one child was in a “highly critical condition”.

However, according to half a dozen health officials and workers who spoke to the Associated Press, about 50 children had received the chemotherapy treatment known as Methotrexate that was originally manufactured in India, and a total of 19 had died.

The family of one of the children said their son felt pains and cramps after receiving the chemotherapy treatment and died five days later.

“The worst thing was that the hospital administration tried to hide the truth from us,” said the boy’s father, who asked not to be named.