Cairo: Yemeni citizen Abdullah (not his real) could hardly contain the euphoria after learning that his wife had conceived after the couple sought treatment at an Egyptian hospital. For more than 20 years, Abdullah and his wife had visited any number of hospitals back home and had nearly abandoned hope of ever becoming parents.

“Doctors in Yemen failed to give me the correct medicine. When I came to Cairo three months ago, an Egyptian doctor gave me medicine and my wife in now with a child,” an overjoyed Abdullah told Gulf News as he left Cairo Airport last week.

“I spent thousands of Egyptian pounds on the medications but the moment I got the glad tidings, I discovered that the spending was well worth it,” he said.

Abdullah then provided an altogether differect angle to the story. He said he had lost trust in doctors in his own country ever since one of them told him that he was suffering from cardiovascular disease. “When I came here, doctors told me that my condition was easily curable.”

Also at the airport, an elderly Yemeni looked forlorn as he waited to get his boarding ticket. “My doctor informed me that I have to undergo a surgery after two months; now I have to go home and come back after a couple of months,” he said.

These two people typify the dilemma of many Yemenis who travel to Egypt to get reliable medical care that they think is lacking at home. Every day, Yemenia Airways and other airlines fly from different Yemen airports transporting hundreds of Yemenis seeking treatment for a variety of medical conditions.

The sight of passengers crying in pain or using crutches is nothing new on Yemenia flights. The moment flights from Yemen land in Egypt, ambulances queue up to transport sick people to hospitals.

Saleh Omar, a postgraduate science student at Alexandria university, had brought his father who is diabetic for treatment in Egypt. He told Gulf News that he had spent nearly $1,500 (Dh5,509) on medicine alone in Yemen. “I brought my father to Egypt because years of medical treatment in Yemen gave neither any concrete results nor hope that his health condition will get better in the long term.”

Omar said his father’s condition has stabilised since the first month of treatment in Egypt. “It is really costly to bring a patient to Egypt, but if we take into consideration the cost of ineffective frequent visits to Yemen doctors, I can surely say that it is better to spend much money on one visit to Egypt.”

Many Yemenis who had sought medical care in Egypt told Gulf News that they preferred to be treated in Egypt because of the credentials of professionals treating them, easy travel procedures and affordable health care. Unlike travelling requirements to GCC countries, Yemenis do not need to get a visa to travel to Egypt. They also say that health services in Egypt are less expensive than other countries like Jordan.

Patients from Yemen seek out health care facilities in a host of Egyptian cities. Many stay in the capital while others are quite happy to visit health facilities in remote areas of Egypt that provide a price advantage besides the assurance of quality health care.

Yemen’s minister of health, Dr Ahmad Qasim Al Ansi, said in an interview with a local private television station recently that only 20 per cent to 25 per cent of patients who travelled abroad were in pressing need of medical treatment for diseases that couldn’t be treated in Yemen.

“Many people, especially government employees, use their diseases as an excuse to receive health allowance and undertake trips more for tourism.”

The minister gave three reasons behind the influx of Yemenis seeking medical advice to Egypt and other places. “First, many patients are unaware of good health services in Yemen. Second, some private hospitals intentionally fleece patients and give them no proper medication. Third, many patients do not go to local doctors based on previous bad experience with some doctors. They make sweeping generalisations about doctors.”

Al Ansi insisted during the interview that there are well-qualified doctors in Yemen. “I want to tell patients that Yemen doctors have changed. We have many highly-trained doctors who even grabbed attention in Gulf countries,” he said.

On another occasion, Al Ansi had said that Yemenis spend millions on medical treatment abroad and highlighted his ministry’s pressing requirement for $300 million to revamp the country’s deteriorating health sector.