Extreme living conditions in the Ghouta’s eastern suburbs near Damascus have worsened as most of the essential services and needs are rarely under the regime-imposed siege, with medicine and treatment significantly affected by the blockade.
One of the city’s doctors spoke to Zaman al-Wasl of an incident he witnessed working under Ghouta’s siege, where surgeons operated on a young man who had completely lost his lower jaw in an explosion. Doctors worked for hours trying to restore as much as possible to his face, however, sadly he passed away.
The doctors were made aware of the possibility to reopen the patient’s wound to take off an expensive plate they used to mend the face bones together, as special medical equipment is often too difficult to find.
“We reluctantly re-opened the wound we had sewn before and took off the plate, hoping that our good intention to benefit another patient would justify what we had done”, doctor Abo Khalil explained.
