(Zaman Al Wasl)- Hamouda, 5-year-old child boy, is not aware that the United Nations has a law called the Child Protection Act which concerns him and his rights as a child.
Hamouda, who has haemophilia, lives his childhood different to other children elsewhere. He is one among many of the children and adults suffering from chronic illnesses in the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus.
In the besieged Eastern Ghouta, there are around 550 cancer patients, 278 asthma patients, 672 insulin-dependent patients, 100 patients with Crohn's disease, and at least 10 patients with haemophilia, according to Dr Mohammed Kuttoub.
Dr Kutub, the representative of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAM), which runs treatment centers in al-Ghouta gave an exclusive statement to Zaman al-Wasl explaining, that the siege increases the suffering of people with chronic illnesses among the besieged.
The situation is worse for patients who cannot be treated due to the limited capabilities available in al-Ghouta, whether in terms of specialities or equipment, such as cancer patients, patients with congenital heart defects or patients who require liver transplants. “Some injuries require advanced surgeries, those people should be evacuated from al-Ghouta and treated.
The second issue is that we have patients who suffer from chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, Crohn's disease or rare diseases such as haemophilia who cannot be treated because of the siege,” Kutub explained.
“In the medical domain, we suffer by not being able to treat these patients whether the first set of patients who are not allowed to leave or the second set whose medication we cannot obtain,” Dr Kutub added.
He revealed that the Syrian American Medical Society began collecting the names and case information since the beginning of the summer after the closure of the tunnels connecting al-Ghouta to the regime controlled areas. According to Dr Kuttoub, the Society continued collecting statistics and sending them to the World Health Organization in its offices in Turkey.
They also sent the lists through the Red Crescent Division in Douma to the Red Crescent’s Damascus offices. After these efforts, “we were only able to evacuate 8 cases.” The evacuation of these cases indicates that an evacuation is possible, but the Syrian regime’s practices hinder this, and the United Nations is not performing its role towards these humanitarian cases.
“We are trying to convey the picture to all UN agencies at the highest levels. We have seen statements from senior UN officials in the last two weeks as a result of the efforts of a group of Syrian activists and humanitarian organizations seeking to deliver the voice of al-Ghouta, but the statements do not save patients. We are also trying to get al-Ghouta’s voice to the media to pressure the public opinion, and I think this is very important because the world outside this area knows little about it. Sadly even many Syrians know little about the Ghouta and its siege,” said Dr Kutub.
Regarding the international convoys that have recently entered the eastern cities and towns of al-Ghouta, Dr Kutub said that the medical convoys entering are suitable for refugee camps at the border that offer primary health support until the refugees settle. The medical conveys rarely include doctors with specialities, and the surgical material that enter are not enough to improve the medical reality for a population of 400,000 who have been besieged for over four years.
According to Dr Kutub, the Eastern al-Ghouta is experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of the revolution and the intensification of the siege, which has led to the list of victims increasing over time.
He mentioned that the Dar al-Rahma medical center for the treatment of tumors and blood diseases in the eastern al-Ghouta announced that another cancer patient died raising the number of victims to 12. The patient had received several doses of chemotherapy after he was diagnosed but the interruption of medications, the closure of the humanitarian crossings and the regime refusing to evacuate humanitarian cases led to the deterioration of the patient’s health until he died.
In a related context, the Directorate of Health for Damascus and its Countryside that 32 cancer patients located in the Eastern Ghouta died in recent months in an announcement on December 08, 2017. The Directorate said the patients died due to the lack of necessary medication and the regime forces siege on the area. The Directorate confirmed that over 500 patients suffering from different diseases require immediate evacuation from the Eastern al-Ghouta.
Zaman A Wasl
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