The only surgical centre in Yarmouk Camp has no support, aid

(Reporting by Soufyan Jbawi; Translation by Yusra Ahmed)

Riyadh Idris, the Director of the Surgical Medical rescuing center in Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian Refugees called the medical bodies and agencies to look to Yarmouk’s status after disconnecting all methods of support , he warned of deterioration of the living and humanitarian conditions. 

Idris reported to Zaman al-Wasl that medical services in Yarmouk camp are dangerously limited, especially after the escape of almost all doctors of the Medical body in Southern Damascus since 4 months ago after the Islamic State ISIS invaded the camp. 

The doctor mentioned that the only surgeon in the camp was himself, therefore he founded the Surgical Medical Rescuing centre. Most hospitals and medical centers in yarmouk camp have no doctor, and their services are limited to first aid only. 

The centre has an operation room and 10 beds besides an Intensive Care unit (ICU). Dr. Idris, a dentist and 10 nurses do all the jobs and provides medical service 24/7 to almost 20 thousand people under siege. It suffers of shortage of medicine and equipments and fuel needed to run the medical machines. 

Idris mentioned that their centre is the only surgical centre in Yarmouk camp, and confirmed that they have not received any support from any supporting body since founding it, and all their services are for free. He added that situation became very hard, especially after the distribution of disease and increase in number of wounded because of shelling. He mentioned that in July only they received 2700 medical cases,, 510 needed operations, 1900 cases of infections, 200 cases were diagnosed of Typhoid.

Most the medical staff of medical centers in Southern Damascus like Yarmouk, Esali and Tadamoun have escaped toward the surrounding towns on truce like yalda, Babila and Beit Saham, when ISIS invaded the camp, which caused severe shortage in medical staff, and Dr. Idris tried to cover the gap by founding the Surgical Medical centre. 

Activists explained the lack of support to this centre, or any medical institution in the camp, is seen as part of the pressure and siege imposed on the camp after ISIS’s control of the camp. The most obvious step in that aspect was the United nation decision to take off Yarmouk Camp from the list of under siege areas, and most humanitarian bodies did the same.