SOHÊR EL-IDLIBÎ

Idlib- Women and children in Idlib are at risk due to the spread of diseases, high prices of medicines, and lack of medicines. On January 19, 2019, the management of refugee camps located in the north and west of Idlib announced many diseases mostly caused by the rotavirus enteritis or eating disorders in the camps. The reason for the diseases among the children was announced as the lack of milk while WHO stated that 13.2 million people need health assistance in Syria.

Diseases spreading in camps

30-year-old Rania Al-Salloum lives in Meşhed Rawhinê refugee camp located in the north of Idlib. She had to take her son Hesen Al-Khader (4) to the hospital four times a month. Stating that she had to take her son to the hospital because he was suffered from gastroenteritis and couldn’t eat anything, Rania Al-Salloum said, “The diseases are spreading due to garbage around the camp. Many people, including children, get sick.”

“Hospitals refused to admit my son”

“My son began to vomit at the beginning of summer due to high temperatures, the increase of insects, the lack of electricity and cooling equipment in the camp. He is losing weight and has pain when eating something,” Rania Al-Salloum stated that policies of neglect are carried out in free hospitals. “These hospitals ignore us; we are not treated as human beings in these hospitals. I took my sick son to a hospital in Idlib. The hospital refused to admit my son on the grounds that the hospital was full. I looked for a hospital that could admit my son. Finally, I found a free hospital but it wasn’t like a hospital.”

High prices of medicines are also a cause

Muhemed Rajab, a member of the Doctors Without Borders at Atma Refugee Camp, talked about the causes of the spread of diseases in the refugee camps, “We observe the eating disorders in the refugee camps located in the North of Syria and we try to document them. We document dozens of people suffering from these diseases in the Atma, Kafr Losin, and Al Karama refugee camps every month. Children are affected not only by diseases but also the inadequate number of health centers and doctors and high prices of medicines.”

She was infected with gastroenteritis

33-year-old Sarah Al-Tanari lives in Rehma Refugee Camp, close to the Salqîne city, west of Idlib. Her three-year-old daughter was infected with gastroenteritis but she couldn’t buy medicines for her daughter due to their high prices.

The wrong treatment killed 4-year-old Ahmed Mehmud El-Eli

Four-year-old Ahmed Mehmud El-Eli died on May 29, 2021, due to the wrong treatment of a hospital in Dana city. His father Ahmed (30) told us that he took his son to a hospital but his son died as a result of the wrong treatment of a doctor of the hospital.