Amnesty International Warns of Health Crisis in Northwest Syria

Amnesty International warned of a health crisis in northwest Syria due to a drop in international assistance to hospitals and other medical facilities. (AFP)
Amnesty International warned of a health crisis in northwest Syria due to a drop in international assistance to hospitals and other medical facilities. (AFP)
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Amnesty International Warns of Health Crisis in Northwest Syria

Amnesty International warned of a health crisis in northwest Syria due to a drop in international assistance to hospitals and other medical facilities. (AFP)
Amnesty International warned of a health crisis in northwest Syria due to a drop in international assistance to hospitals and other medical facilities. (AFP)

Amnesty International warned on Thursday of a looming health crisis in northwest Syria due to a drop in international assistance to hospitals and other medical facilities, where doctors and medical teams are struggling to operate with low resources.

“This past year’s massive funding drop has immediately translated into the closure of hospitals and vital services, and has left millions of Syrians struggling to access medication and other essential health care,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Maalouf called on international donors meeting in Brussels next week to prioritize ensuring adequate funding for health and other essential services as millions of people face the appalling prospect of being denied access to health care amid a worsening crisis.

Amnesty International interviewed eight doctors and health workers, four people who recently sought medical care and four humanitarian aid workers, each of whom described how the funding cuts have led to a shortage of resources and medication, leading to a scaling-down of operations and vital services.

“Before the funding cuts in December 2021, we used to receive about 500 outpatients and inpatients a day. Today, we can receive 10 percent of that number, because we suspended all services except for basic treatment in the emergency room,” the manager of an obstetrics and pediatrics hospital said.

“Donors have the power to rectify this devastating situation. Their decisions have a direct impact on people’s access to healthcare at a time when they are suffering more than ever. What is happening in north-west Syria right now is a terrible humanitarian crisis,” Maalouf added.

Amnesty’s warning came as the Union of Doctors in the Raqqa governorate in northern Syria warned that the current health situation poses a major challenge to the fragile medical sector.

Farhad Jumaan, head of the Union in Raqqa, said the city suffered from a shortage of doctors in some specialties and lack of them altogether in others.

The city has only three ophthalmologists, three neurosurgeons, one anesthesiologist, and one pathologist, “a very small number compared to the population density in Raqqa and its countryside,” according to Jumaan.

He also said that the city of Raqqa lacks an oncologist, forcing patients to go to other Syrian cities for treatment.

“Over 600 doctors are present in Raqqa city and its countryside, which is enough relevant to the population, but the absence of some specialties impedes the treatment of specific diseases,” he added.



Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.