Communications with International Medical Corps (IMC)

Sent: May 23, 2015

Chris Skopec,

We have been reading your reports on ReliefWeb and have noted that your team has been delivering medicine and supplies to a number of facilities in the southern and eastern Governorates of Yemen, notably: Aden, Abyan, Lahj, Al Dhale’e, and Shabwah.

Now, we have been in contact with the Dr. Abdulnasser Alwali (+967733791544), who is the Chairman of the Higher Medical Public Committee in Aden (HMPCA)–the regional appointed health authority–and he has informed us that humanitarian actors have not been coordinating with them to ensure that critical gaps in response and unmet needs are identified.

That being said, they continue to report a severe shortage in essential medicine and supplies in a number of overwhelmed health facilities.  And I have attached their needs assessment, which details what is urgently needed for you to review (see PDF files #1, 2, and 3).

Furthermore, on May 11th, with the help of Physicians Across Continents, HMPCA was able to safely transfer 30 critically wounded patients across sea to Djibouti. However, there still remains approximately 366 patients with severe injuries that still need to be evacuated (see PDF file #4).

Therefore, please circulate this information to your partners and we hope that you will collaborate with HMPCA in order to ensure that aid will be effectively and timely delivered to all active health faciliities in that region. And there is a Facebook Page where you can find health related updates and information from HMPCA: www.facebook.com/hmpcaden.

Thank you for your time.

Yours Respectfully,
HMPCA

Received: May 24, 2015

"Dear HMPCA,

Thank you for your email and for the attention and support you’re providing to the people of Yemen.  Indeed Aden has been one of the most challenging places for International Medical Corps and others to work over the past two months.  Our team in Aden has been to a number of coordination meetings organized by Dr. Abdulnasr, and works closely with the GHO-Lahj, Al-Dalee, and the medical director for 22 May Hospital, in addition to coordination with ICRC, Unicef, and MSF.

At this time, our assistance is limited to the provision and distribution of medical supplies and drugs as well as water delivery, and we do not have the capacity to handle the medical evacuation of severe cases to Djibouti.  We certainly recognize the critical need here and have heard the request directly from Dr. Abdulnasr and the HMPC-Aden on this urgent issue.  We are actively trying to develop better and more frequent means of accessing the most affected areas of the country and are advocating to the international community for the necessity of creating better conditions for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

We will be certain to follow up again with Dr. Abdulnasr to ensure that our activities are transparent and effectively coordinated, and that our current capacities in terms of what we can and cannot provide are understood.

Please note my contact numbers below, I’m happy to discuss by phone if you have any additional questions.  Again, thank you for your attention to our activities and your commitment to assisting the people of Yemen in this time of great need.

Kind Regards,
Chris Skopec
Senior Director, Emergency Preparedness and Response
International Medical Corps"

Sent: May 25, 2015

Chris Skopec,

Thank you for meeting with Dr. Abdulnasser. We would just like for all agencies to coordinate the relief relief efforts in the south, especially in regards to distribution of medical supplies, with HMPC-Aden. We hope that by doing so, they will facilitate any efforts to overcome the numerous access constraints, which has been more so in South of Yemen.

In terms of medical evacuation I will contact Physicians Across Continents (PAC) and see if they can continue this process. However, if you know any partners who you feel may help, please inform them of this urgent issue.

Thank you for kindly replying and for all your support.

Best Regards,
HMPCA