The Syrian Opposition Coalition held a workshop on the surge of the coronavirus in the regime-held areas in coordination with the Ministry of Health in the Syrian Interim Government and the Syrian Islamic Council.
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Free University of Aleppo, Jawad Abu Hatab gave an overview of the medical situation in the regime-held areas, the situation in its hospitals and the mishandling of the coronavirus cases, pointing out that the majority of the cases are non-pulmonary.
SOC President, Nasr Al-Hariri, said that it is the duty of the SOC as the representative of all the Syrian people to take action and find ways to alleviate the suffering of civilians in the regime-held areas.
He stressed that the Assad regime failed to manage this crisis as it failed in the rest of the problems, adding that the regime is unable to protect the people who live in the areas under its control. He also said that the regime is trying to use this pandemic to evade the Caesar Act and the sanctions imposed on it.
Meanwhile, the SIG’s Minister of Health, Maram Al-Sheikh, demanded the tightening of measures to remedy the situation and work to raise awareness in the regime-held areas so that people can protect themselves, given that the regime is unable to take care for people’s lives.
He said that SIG issued a general amnesty for prisoners, as did most countries in the world, while the regime still refuses to release detainees.
For his part, member of the political committee, Yasser Al-Farhan, stressed that the Assad regime released only a few detainees in recent months in an attempt to evade international pressure.
Al-Farhan said that the issue of detainees is the most serious one and requires follow-up with the UN and the Human Rights Council as they are the most vulnerable to the disease due to the inhuman conditions in the regime’s prisons.
Member of the Syrian Islamic Council Abdullah Rahhal said that there are families in the regime-held areas who do not dare to report their disease for fear of the regime’s reprisal.
Participants in the meeting pointed out that recent reports confirm that panic is sweeping over the regime-held areas due to the surge of the disease and the unreported death of dozens of people.
They also stressed the need to communicate with opinion leaders in the regime-held areas and to broadcast targeted media content in order to educate people and urge them to take the necessary health measures to stem the spread of the pandemic. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
