Al Hudaydah – “I was ready to give birth at home, when the pain became unbearable, but I tried to hold on because we couldn’t afford to pay for hospital care.”

Dora Salem, 33, mother of eight children was on her ninth pregnancy and ready to deliver at home like the other eight times, when her labour pains became unbearable, that it worried her family.

Dora’s husband rushed to get the village midwife, who found her abdomen to be severely enlarged and advised Dora to be taken immediately to a hospital.

“I put my faith in God, and took all my savings out to rent a car to take Dora to the nearest health facility,” tells Dora’s husband.

When Dora arrived at the health centre in Al Khoka District, laboratory tests found that she was severely anemic. The hospital did not have the blood type required for Dora. The doctor asked her husband to take Dora to the emergency obstetric care unit at Al Mokha that could save her life in case of severe bleeding.

“I sincerely did not know what to. My wife’s life was in serious danger and I did not have money to pay for the hospital. I took a big risk and took her to Al Mokha Hospital,” tells the husband.

Three hours later, Dora arrived at Al Mokha Hospital and was attended to immediately. Dora was given a blood transfusion and transferred to the operating theatre for a caesarean section.

Dora delivered twin girls.

“I have eight boys, so I always dreamed of having a girl, but God blessed me with two girls. I am so grateful,” tells an exuberant Dora.

Dora’s husband too was ecstatic to find his wife and twins healthy. “I felt so relieved when I saw my wife and our two girls. When I came to the hospital, I didn’t know how I was going to pay for the services, I had used everything I had to pay for the transportation. I was so happy when I found that all the services were free. This is a big blessing for us,” states Dora’s husband.

With the support of KSrelief, health facilities like Al Mokha Hospital are able to provide life-saving maternal health services to save lives of women and their newborns.

“Everyday we are saving the lives of pregnant women at this health facility. If such services were not provided free of charge, the lives of many women would be at risk,’ tells the gynecologist at Al Mokha Hospital, Dr. Rana Al Hammdai.

With the financial support of KSrelief, 15 health facilities are able to provide life-saving reproductive health services in southern parts of Yemen. In addition, 50 communities midwives are being supported by this funding to providing essential antenatal and post-natal care to pregnant women.