Urgent appeal from Afrin IDPs to the World Health Organization
North-Press Agency
On Thursday, the Kurdish Red Crescent issued a statement on behalf of the internally displaced people of Afrin in camps in northern Aleppo countryside to the World Health Organization (WHO), requesting to be provided with medical equipment and teams to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the area that is suffering from a bad medical situation.
The Red Crescent said in its statement that it lacks the protective masks for the IDPs, gloves, suits, and masks (N95), as well as human resources of medical staff to care for the infected in the event of infection, adding that several trainees and volunteers are working in the only hospital, which has been in service since a short time.
The statement noted that the IDPs camps in northern Aleppo countryside lack a quarantine center in the event of having suspected cases, calling on the World Health Organization to help to build a quarantine center and support it with equipment, materials and medical staff.
The statement touched upon the only laboratory in the area and said that it is unable to perform routine analyzes due to shortage, and it needs a PCR device that detects suspected cases of the virus.
Last week, the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of Afrin in northern Aleppo countryside began to take preventive measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the IDPs from the Afrin region and people of the villages of northern Aleppo.
Hevin Hussein, the co-chair of the Health Board, told North-Press that the measures included campaigns to spray sterilizers in institutions and Afrin Hospital and distribute brochures to people, in addition to hanging screens at medical points and Afrin Hospital to display preventive advice from the virus.
She confirmed that the northern countryside of Aleppo has not recorded any infection with the virus so far, noting that 16 devices have been secured for remote temperature tests and distributed to the entrances to the camps and medical points.
There are five camps for Afrin’s IDPs in the northern countryside of Aleppo, which are Serdem, Berkhedan, Afrin, al-Aouda and Shahba, in addition to seven medical points of the Kurdish Red Crescent.
The Red Crescent statement to the World Health Organization included that all the IDPs suffer from malnutrition and weak immunity, especially children, pregnant women and the elderly, which makes them more vulnerable to the infection.
The Kurdish Red Crescent said at the end of its statement: "Whether the virus has spread or not, we will not know that because of the weak capabilities and the lack of support for assistance before the epidemic spread, and if it spreads, the biggest disaster will be the loss of everyone's lives."
The Health Board in the northern countryside of Aleppo stressed the need for families to adhere to medical advice to prevent the virus and not to be afraid of the disease, noting that it will raise the level of procedures in the future if necessary.
Last week, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria issued circularization to suspend all schools, institutes, and universities (students and teachers only), to prevent the spread of coronavirus.