Hospitals in northern Syria’s Manbij lack devices, cost much
MANBIj, Syria (North Press) – Nizar al-Ali, a resident of the city of Manbij, northern Syria, whose six-year-old daughter suffers from brain atrophy and convulsions, is forced to borrow money from his relatives to treat her in private hospitals, due to the lack of test and treatment devices in the only public hospital.
“Ny daughter needs constant medical monitoring, as she needs five doses of anticonvulsant medication everyday so that her health condition does not worsen,” al-Ali said.
In the city of Manbij, there is the Euphrates Public Hospital, which is affiliated with the Civil Administration, and the treatment in it is free, while there are other eight private hospitals in the city and one in the southern countryside of the Abu Qalqal area, 25 km away.
At the beginning of his daughter’s illness, al-Ali went to the al-Furat Hospital to find that the hospital did not contain the equipment required to examine his daughter, as its work was limited to receiving emergency cases only, according to al-Ali.
High expenses
Al-Ali, who lives with his two daughters and his wife in a rented house in Hazawneh neighborhood in the southern part of Manbij, is unable to work because of a broken shoulder that made him unable to do porterage and other things he knows, in order to support his family and be able to secure treatment expenses for his daughter.
“Every time I take my daughter to a private hospital, I pay 125,000 SYP (about $36) the cost of sterilizing the pharynx from secretions, in addition to the prices of medicines, even though I spent only one day at the hospital,” al-Ali added.
The al-Furat Public Hospital in Manbij was destroyed during the battles between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2016, and the Health Committee in Manbij later rehabilitated it, but so far it lacks many specialties and medical devices, according to the Manbij Health Committee.
The hospital lacks many equipment, including x-rays, CT scans, and dialysis machines, in addition to medical materials, according to a doctor in the hospital.
Al-Ali mentions one of the situations he went through on the day of the last Eid al-Adha, when he had to take his daughter to the city hospital in Manbij, where he paid approximately 38,000 SYP for a four-hour medical supervision only, except for 22,000 SYP as medicines prices.
“Treating patients has turned from a humanitarian profession into a commercial means,” al-Ali noted.
Five stars prices
“The prices of hospitals are crazy while the care is so bad,” said Adnan Issa, a resident of Manbij, after he finished scanning his wife’s lower jaw in a radiology center for a tooth extraction operation.
Issa attributes the reason for the high prices of private hospitals to the weak oversight by the Health Committee in the city of Manbij, whose mission is to monitor hospitals and set prices commensurate with the people’s income, more than 70% of the population are daily workers.
“Spending one night in a private hospital in Manbij is equivalent to half the salary of an employee of the Autonomous Administration, and 20 days for a daily worker,” he added.
Looming solutions
In an exclusive interview with North Press, Ahmad Hilal, the deputy co-presidency of Manbij Health Committee, said that the Manbij Health Committee is working on issuing new prices that are commensurate with the population’s requirements and do not oppress hospital owners and doctors.
He added that the standard of living and the level of income of the individual will be taken into consideration, and accordingly, prices will be determined, and any violation of price by any hospital or doctor will be held accountable according to the rules of the Manbij Health Committee.