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.
Yemen’s civil war since 2014 has cut off ready access to essentials such as food and medicine, giving rise to smuggling networks across the largely rebel-held north as well as in the government-controlled south.
The Houthis are often accused of blocking or holding up deliveries of humanitarian aid, on which 80 per cent of Yemen's 30 million population depend for their survival.
Several doctors in Sanaa told the Associated Press that Houthi officials secretly work in partnership with medicine smugglers who sell often expired treatment to private clinics from storage houses across the country.
In doing so, they said the Houthis were limiting the availability of safe treatments.
The Houthi health ministry said “bacterial contamination” had been detected in the injections administered to the children, and it had opened an investigation into the incident.
It blamed the Saudi-led coalition that supports the government for the lack of medicine in rebel-held areas.
The failure to extend a nationwide truce in early October has threatened to reignite bloodshed after a six-month lull in fighting.
The Houthis blames the UN, which brokered the truce, while the US envoy to Yemen accuses the rebel group of hijacking the peace talks through last-minute demands.
The Iranian-backed rebels seized swathes of northern Yemen and Sanaa in 2014, pushing the government into exile. The Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the internationally recognised government to power.
— With reporting from AP and AFP.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Tesalam Aleik
Abdullah Al Ruwaished
(Rotana)
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
Feeding the thousands for iftar
Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth
Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people
The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box
350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley
Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
