HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Ahmad al-Nahr sits in front of his small tent in Sere Kaniye camp, east of Hasakah, northeast Syria, holding his sick son powerless, as he cannot secure costs for his son’s treatment, amid lack of medical services provided for IDPs.
Al-Nahr, 46, hails from the village of Aniq al-Hawa, in the countryside of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), north of Hasakah, needs ten million Syrian Pound for a surgery for his four-year-old son in the Syrian capital, Damascus, because there is no medical equipment in the region to treat him.
Although his son needs consistent medical car, al-Nahr has not taken him to see a doctor for a year, as he said, “I cannot take him to doctors in Hasakah because the examination costs between 20 and 25,000 SYP (nearly $4) and we are IDPs.”
Medical care for heart diseases is not available in the camp, as “there are only painkillers”, according to the man.
The Sere Kaniye camp, which is a house for about 2,579 families, was established in September 2020 to inhibit IDPs who were previously staying in schools in Hasakah following the Turkish invasion of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in 2019.
In the camp, there are 480 people with disabilities and 520 suffer from chronic diseases.
Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) along with the city of Tel Abyad, north of Raqqa, have been under the occupation of Turkey and its affiliated SNA factions since 2019 following a military operation dubbed “Peace Spring” to push away the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which the Turkish state sees as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The operation led to the displacement of more than 300,000 indigenous people. Most of the displaced were forced to relocate to camps established by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), including Washokani and Sere Kaniye camps in Hasakah, Tel al-Samen camp in Raqqa, and Newroz camp in Derik (al-Malikiyah), in addition to others.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
Marian al-Elewi, 41, hails from Aniq al-Hawa, describes the medical situation in the camp saying that it is “not good”.
“My mother has a heart disease and suffers from high blood pressure, and here is no medication for her diseases,” according to al-Elewi.
The woman stressed that the medical center needs more support in order to be able to provide better services for the IDPs of the camp.
In addition, she complained about lack of gynecology services, as women suffer from several diseases and cesarean section, amid lack of an adequate place.
There are two medical centers in the camp, one of them is affiliated to Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) which provides first aid services, and the other to International Rescue Committee (IRC) organization.
Delo Ali, Directorate of Health Office in the camp, affiliated with the AANES, said that the medical services inside the camp are little, as there is no enough medication and no organizations that hold the responsibilities of providing support.
Organizations do not provide enough services for the camp, unlike the camps of Hawl, al-Arisha and Roj, Ali added.