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Feature: Malnourished Yemeni boy hopes to return to school
From:Xinhua  |  2020-12-29 19:47

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SANAA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- "I hope that I can be cured and go back to school," said Murad Mohammed, an acutely malnourished child in Sanaa, Yemeni capital.

Murad is 12 years old but only weighs 13 kg. He is too weak to stand on his own and barely has the strength to talk.

"My son is nothing but skin and bones. He can't stand on his own for even a second," Mohammed Auqap, Murad's father and a 61-year-old taxi driver in Sanaa, said worriedly.

For years, Auqap brought his ailing son to various hospitals and clinics for treatment but Murad's situation only keeps deteriorating.

"My son has been suffering for six years, and I have visited many doctors in hospitals searching for treatment for him. But none could diagnose his disease. He is very sick. He vomits everything he eats," said Auqab.

On Sunday, Auqap brought Murad to the Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, well-known for its treatment of child malnutrition, hoping he finally knocked on the right door.

Auqap and his family fled the bloody conflicts in the northern Hajjah province years ago and moved to the capital of Sanna. Now his taxi is the only bread earner of the seven-member family.

"We are from the Aflah al-Sham area. We came to Sanaa after we were bombed during the war," Auqab said, adding that he thought the ongoing war is the main reason behind the suffering of his son and the entire family.

The United Nations estimated that the war in the Arab nation has claimed more than 233,000 lives and displaced over 4 million. It also forced more than 80 percent of the country's 28-million population to depend on humanitarian aids for survival.

Lying on a bed in the Al-Sabeen hospital, Murad said he hopes he can be cured and return to school.

But doctors in the hospital said treating an acutely malnourished child such as Murad is difficult and the shortage in medicines and medical supplies made it even harder.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthis overran much of the country and seized all northern regions including Sanaa.

The United Nations describes the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as the worst on the planet, with hunger, acute malnutrition, epidemics, and economic blockade killing thousands of Yemen's children. Enditem

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