Health Minister Nizar Yazigi met with a visiting Australian delegation on Tuesday to discuss the condition of Syria’s health sector, in light of crippling international sanctions and an attack campaign targeting its institutions.
The delegation, headed by priest David Smith, expressed admiration for the high morale of Syria’s young people, adding that the country’s health system remains strong despite the heavy toll of the terrorist war.
Minister Yazigi reviewed the damage caused to the health sector over the past five years, as up to 30 hospitals and 20 medicinal factories have closed, in addition to 692 damaged medical centers.
Members of the delegation, which included activist, athletes and journalists, explained they had been campaigning to lift the unjust economic sanctions imposed on Syria.
The delegation presented the Ministry of Health with medicine and USD $10,000, collected from the Syrian community in Australia.