Dr. Hamza al-Khateeb, director of the destroyed Al-Quds hospital in east Aleppo city, said on Monday that medical staff have begun to use basements to perform surgeries after all the hospitals in the city’s opposition-held eastern districts were struck.
“Russia and the regime have hit everything in Aleppo connected to the medical sector, from medicine warehouses to fuel storages,” Khateeb said
On April 29, Russian warplanes struck the Al-Quds hospital, in the Al-Sukkari district, which killed the only pediatrician in the city, Mohamed Wassim Maaz, and put the hospital out of service.
Khateeb said that he had been working in Aleppo since 2012, and witnessed the many bombing campaigns the city has been subjected to. “But the latest campaign [which began three weeks ago] is the strongest of its kind, as it has killed and wounded the highest number of people.”
“Tens of thousands of people [from areas the regime has seized in the eastern districts of Aleppo] have been displaced to the remaining areas of Aleppo, worsening the health situation, as the population has risen in small areas, which raises the chance of being wounded by bombardment,” he said.
He noted that “the wounded die slowly because of the lack of sufficient health services.”
“In light of the international silence about the bombardment which Aleppo is undergoing, we have only one choice left, and that is to give first aid in homes and perform operations and treat wounded in basements after equipping them with the remaining medical equipment,” Khateeb stressed.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
