Doctors in Hama’s northern countryside have established an underground hospital as an alternative to treating patients, including wounded civilians and military members, after a local hospital was destroyed in Syrian regime shelling.
In a video aired by the Smart news agency, one of the hospital’s rooms appeared to be located inside a cave, with the video showing a patient being carried and put on a bed before being examined by a doctor. In the same video another patient was having an X-ray taken for a back injury.
Speaking to the camera, a doctor explains the hospital was established in response to the destruction of most facilities by regime bombardment, adding that the newly constructed hospital is protected underground. According to workers at the facility, the hospital can cover the needs of around 400,000 people, either local or displaced.
The doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained the hospital consists of two sections, one for surgery and orthopedics, while the other section holds in-patients, a laboratory, an intensive care unit, and a gynecology department.
Statistics show that about 17 field hospital in areas outside the regime’s control have been destroyed by regime shelling. Furthermore, regime forces destroyed 12 medical centers in Hama’s countryside as a strategy to deprive people in areas outside of regime control from essential services and medical care.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
