(Eqtsad)- Mariam, 48, detailed difficulties she faced in finding a bed for her husband, Ahmed Wanso, 53, who had been suffering of 'cerebrovascular accident' (CVA), in hospital in a governmental hospital after having a stroke 4 weeks ago, but he is in recovery now.
“Although the hospital is governmental, but lots of expenses were needed, as the urgent admission in hospital was free as well as the first night, but then each night is charged for SYP. 1000, added to costs of medications and diagnostic tests” she added.
Moreover, according to the wife, her husband needs physiotherapy and rehabilitation, but due to rareness in physiotherapist and shortage of specialized centres , patients are offered physiotherapy, if they agreed , they need to pay for the treatment. The cost could range between SYP. 1500 and SYP. 3000 depends of the experience of the physiotherapist and the location of treatment, at home or in the clinic.
In regard to her brother-in-law, she explained that he used to suffer of chest pain, especially after effort or stress, but in last time the pain was very strong and he fainted, when he was ministered to hospital, he was found to have severe narrowing of of heart vessels, he was advised to have an operation to treat the defect.
“he preferred to have the operation done n private hospital, although the cost reached to more than a million Syrian pounds, but in the end we were not able to afford for the recovery and staying in private hospital, as the cost for one night could exceed SYP. 3000, therefore, we transferred him to governmental hospital.”
When asking her about the cost of emergency blood tests to diagnose infarction, she reported that they paid about 5000 SYP.
Eqtsad asked a laboratory technician, Maha who works in a hospital about the cost of heart enzymes tests, she detailed that the cost of them in government hospital reaches to SYP.3000 (LDH for SYP 300, CK for SYP. 1600 and CKMB for SYP. 1200) while in private hospital, they cost about SYP. 5500 (LDH for SYP 800, CK for SYP. 1600 and CKMB for SYP. 3000)
In regard to the cost of surgery, the lab technician explained that it could reach to 300 thousand Syrian Pound in government hospital, but in private hospital it cannot be less than a million Syrian pounds. Added to the medications, which are at the cost of patients, either in government of private hospital. the cost of blood thinners could reach to SYP. 1500 for one dose, while heart medications’ cost range between SYP. 1800 and SYP. 2000.
These two cases of cardiovascular diseases happened in two members of one family within that short period, rings the bell to look if these disease have increased in reality in Syria or that was just a coincidence.
A study about the health care before and during the Syrian crisis presented that in general, Health indicators improved considerably in Syria before the revolution over the past three decades according to data from the Syrian Ministry of Health with life expectancy at birth increasing from 56 years in 1970 to 73.1 years in 2009.
Moreover, the country was in epidemiological transition from communicable to non- communicable diseases with the latest data showing that 77% of mortalities were caused by non-communicable diseases.
However, according to the study, after the war in Syria, vital infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, resulting in a lack of shelter and energy sources, deterioration of water and sanitation services, food insecurity and serious overcrowding, access to health care had become severely restricted for mother and children.
The study added that people with chronic diseases have become at higher risk due to interruption in treatment, as almost more than half of those chronically ill have interruption in their treatment, due to difficulties in referring patients outside the conflict areas due to prioritise the overwhelming volume of life-threatening injuries, besides the need for waiting for long time for treatment in case elective surgery and non-urgent routine medical interventions.
In general , the quality of health care has been affected by deterioration in quality and quantity of medical equipment due to the lack of spare parts and maintenance shortages of drugs and medical supplies due to sanctions.
In a study published by “the Lancet Global Health” journal, researchers found that age average of men in Syria has dropped by 7 years ( from 75 years before the war to 69 in 2013) and 5 years for women (from 80 years to 75 for the same period)
A study of the Syrian centre for Policies researches showed that rate of doctors for population has dropped from a doctor for each 661 in 2010, to a doctor for 4041 people in 2015, added to destroying more than 25 factories of medication.
In the end, we need not to forget the effect of emotional and psychological stress on heart disease and strokes, which are going to be discussed later.
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