Obstetrics, Gynecology Hospital in Syria’s Raqqa to be closed of support lack
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – An official at the Children Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Raqqa city, north Syria, warned on Thursday of a humanitarian crisis in the city in case the support from the hospital’s sponsoring organization stops at the end of this month.
On May 17, 2018 the hospital opened its doors to patients of children and gynecology after the liberation of the city from ISIS.
“The hospital provides free services to large numbers of people, including women and children from the city of Raqqa and those coming to, if the hospital closes its doors to them, a humanitarian crisis will occur in the area,” North Press reported Abdurrahman al-Ahmad, an official in the hospital.
The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) officially informed the hospital management yesterday that the organization would stop supporting the hospital at the end of this month, without explaining the reasons behind this, according to the hospital management.
The “Action for Humanity” organization also works in the hospital as a supervisor of the field work, and it is considered the field wing of the ECHO.
The “Action for Humanity” was found in 2011 in the UK by a group of doctors whose sole focus was to provide assistance and aid to those devastated by conflict.
“These patients cannot afford to go to the private hospitals due to the high prices of their medical services, compared to the free services provided by the hospital to residents of low-income and poor people,” al-Ahmad added.
About 10,000 patients from the city of Raqqa and its countryside come to the hospital monthly. The hospital provides services for women, including natural and cesarean delivery, in addition to free tests and medicines, according to the hospital management.
The hospital provides free caesarean surgeons for women, with approximately 15 operations per day, while the cost in a private hospital is approximately 350,000 SYP (about $100).
The hospital has mammography equipment, which is the device for early detection of breast cancer, and it is the only one available in northeast Syria. The hospital also has free x-ray services, the cost of which in the private sector is approximately 25,000 SYP.
“The hospital spared no effort so that the organisation continues supporting the hospital in order to provide its medical services to the population of children and women. However, there are no signs of renewing this support,” al-Ahmad added.
The hospital also provides examinations to about 150 ill children every day, while and the examination by the private doctor reaches about 7,000 SYP. And it has a pharmacy that provides free medicines to the patients, according to the hospital management.
There are also special outpatient clinics for children and a special care ward for them with 40 beds and 16 incubators.
The ward for children and incubators is supervised 24 hours a day, for free and for a long period of time until the child recovers. The cost of the incubator in private hospitals reaches 100,000 Syrian pounds per day.
The hospital has its own oxygen station in order to avoid any oxygen crisis in light of the number of patients in the hospital and the coronavirus, according to what the hospital management noted.
Al-Ahmad called on the medical authorities responsible for the health sector and those who have the ability to support, to take initiatives for the continuation of the hospital’s work and not to close it to those who need it.