A surgery team operates on an injured youth at a hospital in the town of Harim in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey, on February 10, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. – Following the 7.
As the quake shook the ground beneath him, he rushed out of the hospital to find his apartment building had collapsed with his family inside. Shortly after the quake, ambulances rushed to Harim hospital which was quickly inundated with patients.“It could accommodate no more than 30 patients.” Since Monday’s disaster, the hospital has received about 2,500 wounded, of whom 390 died, according to orthopaedic surgeon Hassan al-Hamdo.Supplies have been slow to arrive in war-torn Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, especially in the rebel-held areas in the country’s northwest.
Other urgent needs include fuel for generators and burial bags, it added, warning of worsening conditions due to the harsh weather and “freezing temperatures”. The challenges are not limited to rebel-held areas, as even in regime-controlled parts of Syria hospitals are critically short of skilled medics and proper equipment.