{"id":129624,"date":"2025-09-13T09:52:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T09:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=129624"},"modified":"2025-09-13T09:52:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T09:52:56","slug":"cancer-patients-in-syrias-suwayda-face-siege-medicine-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/129624\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer patients in Syria’s Suwayda face siege, medicine shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) \u2013 <\/strong>Cancer patients in Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria, are enduring dire conditions as road closures and a blockade prevent them from reaching Damascus for treatment. With medicines cut off and therapies unavailable, hundreds face an uncertain fate marked by pain and despair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe demand life\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From inside Suwayda National Hospital, Fatima Zahreddine, a patient displaced from the burned town of al-Sura al-Kubra, spoke of her ordeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe, cancer patients, are besieged in Suwayda,” she told North Press. “There are no medicines for cancer patients, for those with starch disease, or for people who cannot consume wheat flour. We all urgently need these medicines here.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another patient, Amjad Sharaf, described the hospital\u2019s deteriorating conditions: \u201cThere are no medicines. Even basic tests, like biopsies, must be sent to Damascus, but the road is blocked. There is a severe shortage of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA worsening crisis\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Adnan Muqallad, head of the Friends of Cancer Patients Association, said the group, active since 2007, is now unable to provide medicines, X-rays, or lab tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe crisis began in March 2025, when the Health Minister announced al-Bairouni Hospital had run out of medicines,” Muqallad explained. “Of 95 essential medicines, only seven were available\u2014now none remain. Today, 1,500 patients are enduring suffering, but no chemotherapy is available. In Suwayda, radiotherapy is also unavailable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muqallad noted that about 1,800 patients are currently without treatment or follow-up. \u201cSuccessful treatment depends 75 percent on follow-up, which we lack. No medicines come from Damascus, no aid from abroad, and the situation is worsening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He appealed to international organizations and concerned states for urgent intervention, warning that delays will cost lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cry for help<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Caught between illness and siege, cancer patients in Suwayda say they want nothing more than a chance to live and hope for a corridor to open, bringing the medicines their exhausted bodies need to fight disease and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting by Haroun al-Arbid<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Editing by Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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