Press Release – Cincinnati, OH – Two of Aleppo’s hospitals, the M2 and the M10 were attacked around 4 a.m. Damascus time putting them out of service. The attack coincides with a planned work strike (non-emergency only) today by doctors, medical staff and humanitarians for three hours in Syria (2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Damascus time) to protest against the continued targeting of medical facilities and health professionals.
Follow live: #MedicsStrikeSyria #MédecinsEnGrèveAlep
UOSSM and its humanitarian partners actively support the action of our medical staff on the ground in hospitals throughout Syria. Aid workers are exhausted and need the international community to act. With a clear voice they say: “Stop the killing which claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians in the past few days, stop the daily bombings, stop the systematic attacks of health facilities and medical staff, stop the agony of the people of Aleppo and Syria. Doctors are not enemies.”
Incoming images are disturbing, they show an escalation in the indiscriminate violence against civilians including images of mutilated children, torn bodies and hospitals running on over full capacity using every inch of the hospitals (including the floors) to provide care to the wounded. Dr. Bakry Maaz, an orthopedic surgeon in Syria said, “Over the last five years of war, we have never seen so much deaths and injury in our hospitals as we did this weekend. Today, there are about 573 killed in Aleppo and more than 1,600 wounded in less than 10 days. This massacre is taking place before our eyes and aid workers are powerless against the annihilation of the civilian population.”
Dr. Khaula Sawah, CEO of UOSSM USA said, ” We have repeatedly condemned these attacks against medical facilities and civilians. These crimes against humanity are unacceptable and must be stopped. We call for emergency action to be taken now to stop the indiscriminate killing and bloodshed. For over 20 days no one has been able to bring any type of aid into Aleppo and not one patient have we been able to transport out. The situation is dire and the outcome is disastrous. We, again, demand immediate action be taken and we call on the international community to hold all parties accountable for their actions and war crimes against humanity.”
“UOSSM unconditionally supports physicians and health professionals in Aleppo and throughout Syria. In such overwhelming circumstances in the Syrian crisis, an action such as a work strike is the only way for these professionals to protest the impossible working conditions and humanitarian catastrophe,” Dr. Sawah added.
Aid Worker Casualty Data:
- 115 medical aid workers have been killed since the beginning of 2016
- Nearly 800 medical aid workers have been killed since the conflict began in Syria.
- 14 aid workers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy were killed in an attack on September 19, 2016
- 5 UOSSM Aid Workers were killed on September 20, 2016.
About UOSSM:
Since 2012, UOSSM has been providing emergency medical relief and healthcare services to the Syrian people affected by the crisis, working primarily inside Syria and with Syrian refugees in Turkey.
FULLY operates Bab Al-Hawa Hospital; Major Referral hospital in Northern Syria / serves +14,000 patients and conducts +1,300 surgeries per month
Partially supported 120 hospitals and 200 medical points with $13 M in medications and consumables sufficient to operate 130,000 surgeries
+ 825,000 patients treated at our 9 primary health care centers and 9 mobile clinics with over 1,000,000 consultations
+ 2,872 newborns delivered at the Burnas Maternity Hospital and other UOSSM specialized maternity centers
+ 128,000 people benefitted from our mental health care and psycho-social support centers
+ 9,000 medical staff have been trained and qualified at UOSSM’s training centers
