Accommodation costs in isolation centers within private hospitals in the Syrian capital, Damascus, have drastically increased over the past few days. This came after the Ministry of Health announced that the occupancy rate of intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients in Damascus’ public hospitals has reached 100 percent. The family of a COVID-19 patient told Sowt al-Asima that the cost of accommodation in some private hospitals in Damascus reached seven million Syrian pounds per night. They stressed that the al-Shami hospital was on the top of the list of hospitals that increased their prices.
They added that the hospital administration issued a decision requiring patients to pay 10 million Syrian pounds in advance, as a major condition for accomodating them in isolation centers.
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A few days ago, the Ministry of Health announced that the intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients in Damascus’ public hospitals were fully occupied. The ministry has started transferring several patients to hospitals in Damascus’ countryside.
The announcement was followed by the Ministry of Health’s statements, in which it said that it began transferring patients in need of care beds from Damascus hospitals to Homs hospitals. The infection curve continues to rise to unprecedented daily levels within the fourth peak of the virus.
The Ministry of Health recorded the highest daily COVID-19 infection rate since the outbreak began on March 22, 2020. The numbers reached 278 infections, 12 deaths, and 68 recoveries, bringing the total number of cases since the outbreak began to 31,426 cases –according to the official announcement.
Remark by the Observer: Minimum wage in Syria is only 71,515 Syrian Pounds, around 20 dollars at the free market rate, just above 1% of the above-mentioned amount.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
