By Muhammad Habash
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian conflict has raised challenges for the healthcare sector in Syria in general, but especially for that in areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), particularly a siege imposed by the Syrian government.
This led to shortages in medicines, medical supplies, and equipment that have, in turn, reduced the provision of medical services to the population.
Some of the main challenges are the lack of funding, destroyed infrastructure, and lack of medical personnel, in addition to the spread of diseases and epidemics, and treating cancer patients in the region.
Although AANES-run areas are excluded from some international sanctions, they are still affected by the government siege and regional restrictions, which hinders the access of medical items and the provision of support to the health sector.
Medical siege
The AANES depends on importing medical materials and medicines from both inside and outside Syria due to the lack of pharmaceutical production factories in its areas.
Centers that sell medical supplies face difficulty in importing medical items and medicines due to the restrictions imposed by the Syrian government and the government of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on AANES areas.
Bashir Ali, a trader of medical supplies in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, says taxes imposed by government checkpoints makes it so difficult to import medical items into AANES-run areas.
Previous reports that were published by North Press indicate that the taxes imposed by the government checkpoints on medicines coming from the government-held areas into those of the AANES have raised the prices by 28 percent.
“We do not know the reasons for imposing all these restrictions on medical items,” Ali adds. “This directly affects the patients.”
Patients are victims
The siege and instability in the region have led to the shortage of necessary materials and the increase of the prices of medicines, which directly affected the health of the patients.
The dialysis center in Qamishli is one of the “most important” medical centers that has been affected by the siege, as it cannot provide services at full capacity due to the lack of funding and the difficulty of access to basic medical materials, according to the staff of the center.
“Dialysis centers are very expensive, as they constantly need expensive equipment and materials, not to mention the medications that the patients need,” says Lawrence Abdulaziz, a doctor supervising the center, adding that the patients “cannot bear the high costs of treatment.”
There is another dialysis center in Qamishli that provides its services for free, but it is located in the government-held neighborhood, locally known as the Security Square. Patients avoid going there for fear of being harassed or extorted by the government forces.
Demands to lift siege
Sherin Abbas, deputy co-chair of the AANES’ Health Board, says the government siege has led to a shortage of medical materials in the region. This has forced many patients to import these materials, that do not conform to pharmaceutical specifications, from neighboring countries.
Abbas adds that the siege prevents many patients, especially those with chronic diseases and malignant tumors, from receiving the necessary treatment. They are forced to travel to Damascus to receive chemical doses, but many of them are unable to do so for security reasons, she points out.
She calls on the international community to put pressure on the parties concerned so that the health sector is excluded from political differences, and to provide a more extensive support to the medical sector.