The Minister of Health in the Syrian interim government Firas Aljundi said that over half of the hospitals in liberated areas (or 57% of the total number) have been destroyed by airstrikes by the Assad regime and Russian forces.
Aljundi also pointed out that the hospitals damaged by the airstrikes over the past few months included a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the town of Maaret Alnouman in rural Idlib, Alatareb hospital in rural Aleppo, Albayan hospital, Alhikma hodpital hospital and Alzahraa’ hospital in Aleppo city as well as Allataminah hospital in rural Hama.
The Assad regime’s air force also destroyed Almarj hospital in eastern Ghouta in rural Damascus on Wednesday, putting it completely out of service. Over 40,000 civilians in the area are now deprived of medical care the hospital used to provide.
Aljundi pointed out that the airstrikes also hindered efforts to rescue the wounded by targeting civil defense teams and ambulances, leading to the death of many of those wounded before being rushed to hospitals.
Aleppo has borne the brunt of bombardment by the Assad regime and Russian air forces, Aljundi said. He added that besides the constant airstrikes on medical facilities in the city and its countryside, the province has been suffering as a result of lack of medical equipment and supplies as well as due to shortages of fuel needed to run generators in hospitals. The humanitarian situation in the province has further deteriorated because of contamination of water supplies, he said.
Aljundi noted that the interim government has contacted the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to secure the delivery of medical supplies to Aleppo, but that they only received “condemnations and expressions of concern.”
Aljundi pointed out that Turkey has been a lifeline for the Syrian people as tens of thousands of patients that cannot be treated in the liberated areas have been moved to Turkish hospitals for treatment during over the past five years. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Anadolu Agency)
