Nairobi: After Syrian regime and Russian air strikes hit the last remaining operational hospital in the Damascus suburb of Daraya last week, thousands of people are facing a medical shortage.
According to Syrian activists, the hospital was hit with Napalm gas that caused a massive fire which rendered it inoperable.
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr. Mohammad Diaa, one of the few remaining doctors in Daraya said that they shifted the hospital to an undisclosed location for its own safety as they are afraid of being targeted once again.
Only two rooms are available to accommodate patients, one of which is an emergency room.
“The team of doctors are working around the clock and for free,” he said.
“We deal with at least 10 critical cases everyday now,” he said. “We used to handle 30 cases before the main hospital was destroyed but now we can only take in emergencies because of the lack of resources,” Diaa said.
Daraya has been under a regime-imposed blockade since 2012, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people who are unable to receive medical attention as they trapped in the city.
Khalid, a resident of Daraya, told Gulf News that air strikes have intensified starting from last week.
“Thousands of people are stranded as no one can escape due to the blockade,” he said.
Khalid says he has lost many friends since the beginning of the war, but warns that the recent air strikes will lead to a renewed spate of death and destruction.
“There is a massacre happening and no one is talking about it,” he said. “Every day we are digging up people from underneath the rubble.”
- Abdelazizz Ahmed is a freelance reporter based in Kenya
