Sunday Times: Despite targeting hospitals .. Idlib doctors risk their lives to save the lives of the victims of the bombing

The Sunday Times newspaper published a report highlighting the suffering of doctors who face the danger of death daily to save the lives of patients and victims of shelling in Idlib, despite the continued targeting of hospitals by the Syrian regime raids.

The report, prepared by newspaper correspondent Louise Callaghan, the first British journalist to report from within Idlib in two years, revealed the daily suffering of doctors and patients in the province's hospitals, which have been bombed by Syrian regime forces and Russian aviation for months, which has killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed dozens. Schools and hospitals, and displaced thousands of civilians.

Callahan highlighted that the humanitarian situation in the province's hospitals, which are the last stronghold of the rebels after the fall of the rest of the cities by the Assad regime, is worsening, with its repeated targeting by regime forces, so that citizens have classified them among the most dangerous places in the city; This led patients and injured people to refrain from seeking help in hospitals except when absolutely necessary due to the danger of being there.

The correspondent reported part of the suffering of doctors and patients at the central hospital in Idlib, where the air strikes severely damaged his pediatric ward when she targeted him four months ago. The doctors interviewed by the correspondent expressed certainty that the targeting was deliberate.

Targeting hospitals
The victims of the shelling, who had sought refuge in the hospital and doctors working in the hospital, knew that the regime's shells could target them at any time, and that the hospital they had sought could turn into rubble that would be buried under it at any moment, according to the correspondent.

There is calm and anticipation in the corridors of the hospital, as Callaghan says, where patients, the injured and their eyes are waiting for the early warning signs of the air strikes installed on the walls of the hospital in three colors: blue that shines when a raid targets a nearby place, yellow which means a potential threat, and red which means a threat. Directly to the hospital.

Doctors do not stop working despite the ongoing shelling of the city, and care about the change of color of early warning devices only when there is a direct threat, according to the newspaper, which cited the opinion of Dr. Saeed Al-Khalifa, orthopedic specialist (39 years), who has been working in the hospital since "The yellow alarm signal works all the time, but we only move when the red alarm signal is on, we start helping patients move to another part of the hospital when time permits, as doctors continue to work; we know we're going to die," he says. , So it's useless to stop. "

Severe shortage of medications
Callahan said the hospital suffered from a severe shortage of medical equipment and equipment, and that patients and injured people from all over the city were kissed after work in other hospitals was stopped due to shelling.

Despite being 30 miles from the battlefront, air strikes are constantly targeting targets close to the hospital.

According to Dr. Al-Khalifa, the hospital is under tremendous pressure, receiving patients from across the city. "We are doing our best, but the situation is now the worst in a while. We are under enormous pressure as patients turn to us because all hospitals in the south have been targeted and we are suffering from a severe shortage of medicines and equipment; we need everything: tools and antibiotics."

The shelling of Idlib for months, which hit civilian facilities, killed 862 civilians, including 226 children, and targeted about 100 schools and 48 health facilities, and led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to statistics of the competent organizations.