DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Muhammad had no idea where to take his 2-year-old son when he got sick late night. The man was forced to wake up his neighbor, who has a car, to hospitalize his son to Al-Kasrah Hospital in eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, east Syria.
There is a health clinic in the village for Muhammad Fawzi, 40, and the residents of the village of Zaghir al-Jazira, about 25 km north of Deir ez-Zor city, but it has been closed for more than 10 years.
In the absence of a medical center in the village, the residents are worried that members of their families may suddenly fall sick, because the nearest clinic is far away.
The residents of Zaghir village are forced to take their patients and emergency cases to the nearest health center which is Al-Kasrah Hospital and is 15 km away from the village.
Fawzi says that the health clinic in their village has not been subjected to much damage. But despite that, it has not been renovated, although the village needs it greatly.
The man accused the Health Committee of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) of not fulfilling its duties.
“All what the clinic needs is a simple renovation. The medical staff is available from the village itself. But the Health Committee did not move a finger to alleviate our burdens,” Fawzi said.
The village of Zaghir Jazira extends over a large area in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor, with a population of approximately 20.000 people. Some of these people are displaced persons from areas held by the Syrian government.
To face this, the residents of the village submitted many requests to those concerned in the health sector. Omar al-Salih, a resident of the village, says that for three years they have been going to the Health Committee and the Deir ez-Zor Civil Council, to reactivate the center, but to no avail.
Al-Salih added that handling any emergency situation at night costs a lot of money, as taking a taxi to Al-Kasrah costs around 50.000 Syrian pounds ($10), which is too much in light of the poor living conditions for the majority of the population.
Mahmoud al-Hathal, head of the local council in the village of Zaghair Jazira, says that the village’s clinic used to provide medical services in the years before the Syrian civil war which started in March 2011.
He believes that the village is in dire need for the clinic, given its high population, and the long distance to the closest medical center. He says that activating the clinic will also mitigate pressure on Al-Kasrah Hospital.
The lack of a health center comes in light of the spread of cholera in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
On September 10, the AANES announced the spread of cholera in its areas, and the recording of the three deaths which took place in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa.
According to the Media office of the Ministry of Health of the Syrian government, 130 confirmed cholera cases have been recorded in Deir ez-Zor until October 11, second only to Aleppo.
Al-Salih demands their clinic to be activated. “At least they open an obstetrics department,” he said, as a caesarean delivery costs more than 700.000 Syrian pounds ($135).
Despite the large number of requests, Muhammad al-Salem, co-chair of the AANES Health Committee in the Deir ez-Zor Civil Council, says that the clinic will not be activated before the beginning of 2023, attributing the reason to “the halt of renovation work this year.”