Cancer drive nets $3.4m for patients

Sana'a: More than $3.425 million (Dh12.5 million) was raised to support cancer patients in a national campaign organised in Yemen to help sufferers, said the organisers.

About 50 patients will be treated at the expense of businessmen and charities in or outside the country, it was announced in the campaign which was conducted under the slogan "There is Always Hope for Life".

Official statistics show there are about 360,000 cancer cases in Yemen. Some 22,000 new cases are recorded every year, of which 12,000 prove fatal, according to the executive manager of the National Foundation for Combating Cancer, Ali Al Khawlani.

The government announced during the campaign it will establish three centres for cancer treatment in Taiz, Aden and Hodiedah in addition to present centres in Sana'a and Mukalla.