‘Stop me if you need a doctor’: Yemen medic treats poor from his car

DUBAI: In a war-ravaged country now battling coronavirus, one Yemeni doctor is dispensing medical advice from his car, gathering a large social media following along the way.

"Stop me if you need a medical consultation," reads a large sticker on the rear window of Sami Yahya al-Hajj´s four-wheel drive, alongside a cartoon figure of the bearded doctor wearing his square spectacles. As he offers diagnoses and prescriptions to the poor, the doctor´s phone chirps with messages and calls from patients who cough and splutter as they explain their ailments. Hajj said he started giving free consultations via social media but then wanted to reach to those without access to such technology. "I thought about the poor and those in need on the streets who cannot get medical advice or don´t have the money for it," he told AFP. Yemen is facing what the United Nations calls the world´s worst humanitarian crisis. A war between the government and Huthi rebels has killed tens of thousands and displaced four million people.