by Mohamed al-Azaki
SANAA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Ibtisam Abdullah has spent most of her life amid war, but the war she faces now is unlike any before -- this one rages within her own body.
At just 30 years old, Ibtisam is suffering from an aggressive cancer spreading across her thyroid, throat, and face. Surgeons at the Republican Hospital in central Sanaa removed a tumor from her thyroid only days ago, but her prognosis remains grim. Doctors at the National Oncology Center say she needs another surgery to open her airway, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Even if she survives those treatments, the care needed to save her eyes is not available in Yemen.
Tumors in this area require precise equipment to avoid permanent blindness, said Masoud Al Zariqi, an oncologist at the hospital. He said the only way to save her sight is for her to travel abroad.
For Abdullah and thousands of others, that possibility remains out of reach. Sanaa and much of the northwest have been under Houthi control since 2014, locked in a long war against a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognized government. The result is a country split in two, an economy in free fall, and a healthcare system close to collapse.
Inside the courtyard of the National Oncology Center, the human toll is unmistakable. Hundreds of patients from across Houthi-controlled areas cluster together as they try to pay for consultations, tests, and chemotherapy. Health authorities in Sanaa do not publish official figures, but local media report that 12,000 cancer patients have died each year since the conflict began.
Public sector employees in these areas have gone largely unpaid since the war began, including teachers like Ibtisam. Doctors continue to work for free or for far less than their former salaries. Hospitals that once offered free care have been forced to charge for every procedure.
Many life-saving drugs are missing from pharmacies, said Ali Al Mutawakkil, a pharmacist in Sanaa. He said the shortages have turned medicine into a lucrative business, with prices doubling.
For patients whose treatment cannot be found in Sanaa, the only path is to leave the country. Yet Sanaa International Airport has been closed to commercial flights for years because of the coalition blockade, with only rare exceptions for United Nations officials or limited humanitarian arrangements.
Recent regional flare-ups, including Houthi missile launches aimed at Israel after the Gaza war erupted in 2023, have deepened the isolation of the north.
With air travel cut off, patients must travel overland to Aden, the temporary capital in the south under government control. The journey is punishing.
Mona Sultan, 25, has cancer near her left eye and the base of her skull. She recently made the trip to Cairo via Aden, a journey that consumed her family's savings.
"It's a hellish road for healthy people," she said wearily, "let alone cancer patients."
Before the war, the around 370-km drive from Sanaa to Aden took four hours. Now, with detours around front lines and roads filled with potholes and rubble, it takes at least 24. Travelers face hundreds of security checkpoints where armed men search vehicles and often demand bribes.
"There is no mercy," Mona said. "The cost of traveling to Cairo and money on medical treatment amounted to about 10,000 U.S. dollars. My family sold everything we owned and borrowed money from relatives and neighbors."
Meanwhile, Ibtisam's family is running out of time. They have already paid 400 dollars for her first surgery, a staggering amount in an economy that has collapsed. As the tumor grows and distorts her face, her husband and relatives go door to door begging for help to fund the next operation.
Now, Ibtisam lies in a hospital bed with her eyes swollen shut and a bandage wrapped high across her neck. Her future now depends on a community that has been stripped of nearly everything yet still tries to save one of its own.
Ibtisam is still at the beginning of her treatment journey, and the road ahead is still long, rough, and expensive. She has survived a long, deadly conflict in the country. The fight ahead, the one inside her body, may be harder still. ■
