Yemen's dialysis patients at risk as Taiz centre fuel runs dry

For these patients, in the Yemeni city of Taiz, survival comes down to a medical machine. Twice a week, it cleans their blood. Without it, their bodies cannot survive. But this lifeline is running out of time. I have dialysis twice a week, and that is what's forced me to stay here at the dialysis center. A dialysis patient is like a fish. If a fish comes out of the water, it dies. Ahmed cannot simply walk away. Neither can the hundreds of others who depend on this facility. But the center is running out of fuel to keep the equipment working. Patients will die if dialysis is not provided. There is currently a lack of diesel that is needed to operate the center, and our remaining supplies will last for 14 days. We do not know what will happen to these patients after 14 days. Yemeni government forces and the Ansarullah Houthis have been fighting for control of Taiz for several years. This has left health facilities struggling with shortages of fuel, medicines and essential supplies. For people with chronic illnesses, access to vital medicine is a matter of life or death. I suffer from heart disease and some of the medicine I need has become unavailable. They say the medicines haven't arrived, there's a blockade. They say it's not in our hands. Thais is also caught in a wider humanitarian emergency. The World Food Programme says shifting front lines have cut off aid access to 800,000 people. Across Yemen, more than 18 million people face food shortages. And nearly 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. For now, these patients will need dialysis again in a few days. They will return to this facility as they have always done, trusting that the machines will be waiting. But no one here can promise them that, Hamza Mohamed Al Jazeera.