‘I Will Kill You’ — Health Care Workers Face Rising Attacks Amid COVID-19

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A health worker in personal protective equipment stands at a COVID-19 intensive care unit in Taez, Yemen.





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Insecurity Insight also says that violence from existing conflicts has taken a toll on efforts by health-care groups to control COVID-19. On April 6, for example, armed groups heavily shelled the Al-Khadra Hospital in Tripoli, Libya. With 400 hospital beds, it was one of the only health facilities in the country to treat COVID-19 patients.

The type of threat that the Yemeni doctor experienced at his hospital is unfortunately «quite typical around the world, says Wille.

The doctor estimates that at his hospital in Aden, a family member of a patient threatens a health worker with a gun or some kind of violence about three times a week.

Rayan Koteiche, a researcher with the group Physicians for Human Rights, which focusing on the Middle East and North Africa region, could not verify the doctor’s account but says his group has corroborated the widespread use of guns to threaten health workers in Yemen.

«We’ve documented such incidents where family members, acquaintances, friends or colleagues of patients take it upon themselves to pressure, intimidate, threaten health workers to do more, he says.

Flashing a gun is not uncommon, he says: The proliferation of small arms in Yemen has been an issue for years and it’s not uncommon for civilians to carry «handguns, machine guns, automatic weapons — they are very widespread.

Even before the pandemic, Yemen was a particularly dangerous place for health workers. Between March 2014 and December 2018, warring parties in the ongoing civil war carried out at least 120 violent attacks on medical facilities and health workers, according to a report co-authored by Koteiche titled «‘I Ripped the IV Out and Started Running’: Attacks on Health Care in Yemen.

The Yemeni doctor says some of his colleagues at the hospital have stopped working because they fear for their life. He fears for his life, too.

When he was threatened back in April, the first thing he thought about was his two children and wife: «I felt sad. What will they do if I get killed?

Still, he continues his work. «We have to help people. We have to save lives, he says.

When asked if he had any special techniques or magical phrases to say to people who intimidate or threaten him on the job, the doctor says he just tries his best to de-escalate the problem. He tells them: «Pointing a gun won’t help. It frightens the staff, it confuses them.

Health workers around the world are calling for more security measures to protect them while working.

Dr. Amara Khalid is a medical officer at the COVID-19 ward at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. On May 21, she wrote in a Facebook post that she and her husband were mobbed by about 25 people while working on the overnight shift at the hospital. They were «shouting that their patient was sick and doctors should check her ASAP, she wrote. With no security at the hospital, she and five workers were left to fend for themselves, trying to prevent the mob from entering the COVID-19 ward, then barricading themselves to call for help.

Khalid is now working with a lawyer and petitioning the Lahore High Court to provide security provisions to health workers. «It’s high time to do this, and it’ll only be possible if we all unite for this cause, she wrote in an Instagram post aimed to Pakistani doctors.

«When we were attacked, I got really scared and even thought about leaving the job, says Khalid. «But there’s already a shortage of doctors. And if there are no doctors in the hospital, then the chaos will increase. So somebody has to be there. Somebody has to sacrifice.

With reporting from NPR correspondent Diaa Hadid in Pakistan.