Syria faces shortage of doctors

An exodus of doctors due to the country's faltering economy, coupled with the difficulty of recruiting new graduates, means that some specialities risk disappearing.

Health officials in government-run Syria have made frequent warnings in recent months about the deteriorating healthcare sector. According to estimates, between 30% and 60% of physicians have left the country since the conflict began in 2011 and the exodus is continuing. Khaled Moussa, the head of the doctors' union in the area around Damascus, sounded the alarm in May. He said that some specialties were at risk of disappearing, like anesthesiology. Health professionals in oncology, vascular surgery and neurology have also become scarce.

It's a shortage that is likely to increase in the areas controlled by the regime. Doctors are continuing to leave because of deteriorating living conditions linked to the serious economic crisis, even heading for war-torn Yemen, according to Mr. Moussa. Medical students are also choosing to continue their studies abroad, either to get a better specialization or to escape compulsory military service.

"Everyone in Syria complains about the lack of specialists," said Mariam (she gave only her first name), a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who suffers from heart problems. She recently went back to Syria for surgery, which is less expensive than in Beirut. "It's an overall decline," she said. "Hospitals lack equipment and have become dirty. My relatives who stayed behind are getting used to it, but for me it was a shock. It is also difficult to get medication: The price of medicines has gone up. It's like the situation in Syria is never going to get better."

Great leap backwards

In both Lebanon and Syria, whose economic disasters are closely linked, obtaining medical care has become difficult for the most vulnerable, but it is still less expensive in Syria. Despite the lack of doctors, refugees in Lebanon are crossing the border, often covertly, to avoid being stopped on their way back home. According to Dr. F., a Syrian surgeon who has made a career change to research and who is also exiled in Lebanon, the health care sought is for "childbirth, asthma or heart disease."

According to Dr. F, staff shortages vary by region. "There have been higher rates of doctors leaving in cities that have been targeted militarily by the regime, such as Aleppo [recaptured in late 2016 by pro-Assad forces] and Homs [several neighborhoods of which had joined the rebellion], compared with those that have been preserved, such as Damascus or Latakia. But the exodus of Syrian doctors over the years – who've left for Europe, the Gulf countries, Turkey – has a general impact on the quality of teaching in the four medical universities. The standard has dropped and practical training is more difficult to come by for young graduates." Western sanctions are also a factor in the declining health system. They have the knock-on effect of making it almost impossible to maintain and import medical equipment.

You have 37.63% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.