The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

The medical reality in the Syrian north, between the hammer of repeated targeting by the regime and its Russian ally, and the anvil of stopping its supporting in the light of the most violent escalation in “Putin – Erdogan” area

The Syrian regime and its Russian ally in the most violent continuous escalation since the end of the April 2019 in the area “Putin-Erdogan”; are targeting hospitals and medical centers directly by bombing them with warplanes to destroy them and getting them out of service, where the Syrian Observatory documented during this period that about 20 hospitals and medical centers went out of service, and they are: Jesr al-Shughur Hospital, Kiwan hospital in Kafr Aweed, the hospitals of al-Sham Central Hospital, Kafr Nubl Surgical Hospital, al-Sayyidah Mariam, al-Khatib, the Orient in Kafr Nubl, Nabd al-Hayat Hospital in Hass, al-Tah Hospital, Sarja Hospital, Hospital 112 in Qal’aat al-Madiq, al-Maghara Hospital and Sham Hospital in al-Lataminah town, as well as health centers in Kafr Nabudah, Ma’aret Hurmah, al-Hbit, al-Rakaya, and Kafruma.

The Russians and the regime have not only killed civilians, but also pursued the wounded in hospitals as part of a systematic criminal policy, in addition to displacing hundreds of thousands of people; who are now scattered out in the open in agricultural land and primitive camps along the border with the Iskenderun, all these factors have increased the pressure on the medical side which serves about 4 million people north of Syria, the reality now requires more attention to the health and medical side through achieving greater support by the organizations, donors, and supporters of this aspect, but what happened on the ground was the contrary of this stage’s requirements, where international bodies suspended their full support of the medical facilities, by suspending payment of salaries of all employees three months after the statement that was issued on Saturday the 13th of July 2019, which complicates the functions of the remaining hospitals and medical centers, especially since most hospitals and medical centers in the southern area have been destroyed, and they certainly in need of logistical and material support to meet the enormous amount of pressure on them, whether for the injured people in the most violent escalation on the “de-escalation” area or the diseases which have are spreading frequently in the primitive camps as well as other diseases and services.

Since February 2019 until recently, the medical aspect witnessed a remarkable development in the medical services sector, the availability of medicines, increased activities of clinics and health centers, the provision of periodic vaccines, and an increase in health services in conjunction with the return of support provided to the medical and health sector by the international agency for the technical cooperation GIZ to the health directorates in Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo; through organizations represent the mediator between the agency and the organizations of UOSSM and SAMS, and providing the necessary and operational support to the centers of each of the health directorates of Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo, but these centers are unable to provide services in cases of “lack of support”, where the salary of an employee within the medical sectors is not less than $350 USD and more than $1500 USD for a doctor, while the nurse’s salary is more than $500 for 72-hour work period and a 72-hour break, that is only if the support is available. When it is not, the Health Directorate of the Rescue Government reduces salaries and stops some unnecessary clinics in remote places, and the work becomes voluntary for these cadres, and the sporadic support directly affects the helpless citizens, making  them –as always– the biggest loser in the Syrian war.