The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM)

  • Conference: Aleppo crisis for discussion on Thursday

    Conference: Aleppo crisis for discussion on Thursday

    Members of the press, correspondents and the medical community have been invited to discuss the crisis in Aleppo, a city in Syria close to the Turkish border, serving as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate.

    The focus of the Press Conference scheduled for Thursday, October 20th at Baytna Syria, is ‘Medical Infrastructure Crisis In Aleppo Gaziantep, Turkey’, which has been badly affected by the ongoing crisis in the region.

     The conference seeks to discuss Airstrikes which have consistently hit medical facilities in East Aleppo especially the four recent attacks last weekend, causing massive damage to two of them, injuring two doctors and killing an ambulance driver.

    Similarly, since the beginning of the siege on east Aleppo in July, medical facilities have been hit 27 times even as 115 medical aid workers have been killed since the beginning of 2016 and nearly 800 medical aid workers have been killed since the conflict began.

    Moreso, from March 2011 to September 2016 there have been 545 attacks on 250 different medical facilities including 185 documented attacks in 2016.

    According to Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), no fewer than five of its aid workers were killed on September 20, 2016.

  • Major hospital in Aleppo heavily damaged

    A major hospital in Aleppo was on Friday hit by airstrikes and heavily damaged at about 4:00pm Damascus time. No fatalities were reported and 35 patients were transferred.
    The hospital was supported by UOSSM/ SAMS/ other NGO’s and serves a population of 150,000 people in Aleppo. It was amongst the last five operational facilities in Aleppo. Currently, only a few doctors remain to serve a population of over 250,000.

    There are unconfirmed reports that two more medical facilities have been attacked same day. Patient volumes and trauma injuries have skyrocketed as a result of relentless bombardments in besieged Aleppo this week.

    The name of the hospital is concealed for it’s protection in light of a policy to repeatedly attack hospitals until destroyed. This was apparent by three separate attacks on one major hospital in Aleppo in the past few weeks.

    The intensification of attacks in civilian neighborhoods has pushed all medical facilities and aid workers to their breaking point. This is a clear and irrefutable violation of international law. Immediate action by the UN is needed to stop the genocide which has already begun.

    In the past three weeks at least 320 children have been wounded and 114 have died as a result of airstrikes in Aleppo. Destruction of White Helmet  (Syrian Civil Defense) emergency response centers throughout Aleppo have severely inhibited the response times and compounded an already critical situation for patients seeking treatment.UOSSM condemns this attack and demands that those responsible are held accountable for  violation of International Humanitarian Law.

    For the survival of our staff and patients, UOSSM implores The United Nations General Assembly to take concerted action to apply pressure on all actors in Syria to come to a peaceful resolution during the UN General Assembly. This emergency special session can be called under the UNGA 370A  “Uniting for Peace” resolution, which dates back to 1950 and allows for the wider membership to step in when the Security Council “fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

  • Video: NGO conducts Surgery on the floor in Syria

    Video: NGO conducts Surgery on the floor in Syria

    As the fighting in Syria persists, Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) has reiterated its commitments to continue an impartial treatment of injured workers.

    The UOSSM, as part of its objective, sets up logistic aid and training facilities to medical teams in Syria, and help them build the capacity to improve the management of injured patients and victims of the war, regardless of their ethnicity, race or religion.

    Since 2012, UOSSM International has provided medical relief and health care services to thousands of people affected by the crisis in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon. “One of our greatest accomplishments has been the establishment and operation of the largest hospital in northern Syria,” the organisation said on its website.

    According to UOSSM in another report, three of the four Syrian Civil Defense (The White Helmets) response centers have been attacked and one completely destroyed, reducing emergency response capacity by 50%. Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) doctors anticipate a surge in casualties/ injuries in the coming days for patients who were unreachable.

    Video from Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) in Syria to The Nation Newspaper

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Aleppo” count=”6″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Massacre in Aleppo leaves medical NGO pleading for no fly zones, aid

    Massacre in Aleppo leaves medical NGO pleading for no fly zones, aid

    An intense aerial bombing campaign over Eastern Aleppo, which started on September 22 and continued throughout the weekend, has left over 300civilians dead and over 1,600 injured in the past week. Ground personnel report over 80 children have died and hundreds more are terribly maimed and wounded.

    “In the five years of this war we have never seen so much trauma and death in our hospitals.” Said Dr. Bakri M. – One of the last remaining Surgeons in Aleppo.
    Three of the four Syrian Civil Defense (The White Helmets) response centers have been attacked and one completely destroyed, reducing emergency response capacity by 50%. Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) doctors anticipate a surge in casualties/ injuries in the coming days from patients who were unreachable.

    ussom1“We don’t have enough medical supplies, we don’t have beds, patients are scattered in the hallways and dying on the floor. We can’t do anything if the airstrikes continue”- Said Dr. Bakri M.

    The few remaining hospitals that have not been destroyed are overwhelmed with the number of patients injured and dying. This weekend’s attack has been the worst any doctors in Aleppo have seen in the past 5 years.

    For the survival of our patients and staff, we plead for No Fly Zones over Aleppo. We ask all citizens to demand this from their governments. We ask for private and government donations to immediately support our clinics in Aleppo. UOSSM will continue its work despite the dangerous conditions and incredible challenges. Our staff is still committed to providing care to everyone in need, regardless of race, religion or politics.

    Over 90% of all civilian injuries in Aleppo are caused by air strikes. Using jets and the most advanced technology to drop untargeted munitions such as cluster bombs and barrel bombs in civilian neighbourhoods is nothing short of sadistic. The outcomes are clear that these methods, when used in populous cities, only injure and maimed civilians, not military targets. Precision attacks only seem to be used when targeting medical facilities, aid workers and humanitarian convoys.

     

    Breakdown of casualty so far, according to Aleppo Forensic Group:

    Reporting and data collection in the field has proven challenging due to overwhelming circumstances.

     

    94   – Casualties on Friday, September 23

    96   – Casualties on Saturday, September 24

    106 – Casualties on Sunday, September 25  

    18   – Casualties on Monday, September 26

     

  • Airstrike kills 4 aid workers of Europe based NGO in Syria

    Airstrike kills 4 aid workers of Europe based NGO in Syria

    Four staff members of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) were recently killed, and one nurse is in critical condition after an air strike hit a medical facility.

    The airstrike hit Khan Touman medical triage point in Aleppo and complete destroyed the facility and two ambulances. In total, 14 victims died along with many more injured.

    syriaThe medical triage point provides triage and emergency medical services to approximately 750 wound patients a month. Ahmad Dbais, UOSSM Director of Hospitals and Trauma in the Northern Region said: “The building was three stories, two of which were above ground and one story was underground. Due to the intensity of the bombing all three levels collapsed and are now buried underground.”

    Two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed. The fifth victim, a nurse, has suffered severe burns and is in critical condition. The patient has been transferred to Turkey to receive medical care.

    This attack comes one day after the UN/ Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy was hit by air strikes leading to the death of the Director of the SARC and many other aid workers. It has been a deadly year for health care workers with 115 were killed in 2016 alone, and over 700 medical personnel have been killed since the beginning of the crisis in Syria.

    “REAL ACTIONS must be taken to protect aid workers and hold those responsible accountable. Many aid workers can’t work because they are being deliberately targeted. The fact that the international community sees this and continually fails to act is beyond comprehension.” Said Avi D’Souza, Global Director of Communications, UOSSM Intl.