ISTANBUL (AA) - Fifty four world famous doctors issued declaration on Monday regarding the recent health conditions in Syria that 37 percent of the hospitals in Syria was demolished while 20 percent of them was severely damaged, 469 health workers in prison and 15,000 doctors had to flee abroad.
Released as an open letter to the "The Lancet" online journal, a leading general medical journal and specialty journals in Oncology, Neurology and Infectious Diseases, by 54 globally known doctors including Prof. Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, head of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and one of the founders of the Turkish National Forensic Medicine Specialists Association, and President of Doctors Worldwide Turkey Dr. Kerem Kinik, the declaration demanded efforts towards paving the way for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) specialized in health to enter Syria to provide medical care to the wounded Syrian people.
The declaration stressed that it become almost impossible for Syrian civilians to benefit from critical medical stuff, saying "According to WHO, 37% of Syrian hospitals have been destroyed and a further 20% severely damaged. According to the Violations Documentation Centre, an estimated 469 health workers are currently imprisoned, and about 15,000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad according to the Council on Foreign Relations."
A related report said only 36 remained out of the 5,000 physicians in total in Aleppo city after the onset of the clashes.
"The targeted attacks on medical facilities and personnel are deliberate and systematic. Horrific injuries are going untended; women are giving birth with no medical assistance; men, women, and children are undergoing life-saving surgery without anaesthetic; and victims of sexual violence have nowhere to turn to.The Syrian population is vulnerable to outbreaks of hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. The lack of medical pharmaceuticals has already exacerbated an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a severe infectious skin disease that can cause serious disability, there has been an alarming increase in cases of acute diarrhoea, and in June aid agencies reported a measles epidemic sweeping through districts of northern Syria. In some areas, children born since the conflict started have had no vaccinations, meaning that conditions for an epidemic, which have no respect for national borders, are ripe."
The doctors called on the Syrian regime and all armed parties to "refrain from attacking hospitals, ambulances, medical facilities and supplies, health professionals and patients; allow access to treatment for any patient; and hold perpetrators of such violations accountable according to internationally recognized legal standards."
The declaration also urged all armed parties to respect the proper functions of medical professionals and medical neutrality by allowing medical professionals to treat anyone in need of medical care and not interfering with the proper operation of health-care facilities.
