Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Aleppo, SANA- Terrorism and its backers have targeted Aleppo City and all sectors that contribute to providing services to citizens, especially the health sector, and they sought to destroy and sabotage it. After eliminating terrorism thanks to the sacrifices and heroism of the Syrian Arab Army personnel, how does the current reality of the health sector in Aleppo look like on the fourth anniversary of the liberation of the city?
Dr. Ziyad Hajj Taha, Director of Aleppo Health Department, told the SANA reporter that 52 health centers, hospitals, and medical points have returned to service and work after rehabilitating and renovating them from the severe damage and vandalism inflicted on them as a result of terrorism, indicating that work is currently underway on the maintenance and restoration of ten health sites and equipping them with various medical devices and equipment to put them into investment.
Taha pointed out that a future plan has been drawn up to renovate more medical centers and points in the next year, and to supply the emergency system with new ambulances, in addition to supplying the Public Health Programs Department with general and specialized mobile clinics for tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and diabetes to serve remote areas where there are no health centers according to specific schedules.
Taha said that national vaccination campaigns continue to vaccinate children in the province, adding that the medical teams have been able to enter the city of Ain al-Arab after more than five years of their inability to enter the City and they have vaccinated children there, and they continue to provide medical treatments to patients at specialized centers, including the centers of diabetes, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and the thalassemia and at the oncology department in Ibn Rushd Hospital. where chemotherapy is provided to patients for free.
He added the rubble has been removed from the National Hospital, which was destroyed and vandalized as a result of terrorism, in preparation for its study, and a new and alternative place for Ophthalmology Hospital was chosen, and there has been a coordination with the Ministry to supply it with medical equipment and to reopen it. The central warehouses of Aleppo Health Department in Hanano area have been also restored to transport medical equipment and medicines to them.
Regarding the work of Aleppo Health Department to deal with the Coronavirus, Taha stated that Zahi Azraq Hospital was designated to receive Coronavirus patients, and there is a section temporarily allocated to receive the coronavirus patients in al-Razi Hospital, in addition to opening a special emergency ward at Ibn Khaldoun Hospital with a capacity of forty beds equipped with oxygen cylinders to accommodate the increasing number of infected people.
Taha added that special cars have been allocated to transport the infected people, and there is a laboratory for conducting swabs and analyzes of coronavirus for people suspected of being infected and travelers at Zahi Azraq Hospital, which is being restored in Halak area.
SANA’s camera toured a number of health centers and hospitals and inspected the level of medical services provided to citizens, in addition to maintenance and rehabilitation work, including Zahi Azraq Hospital in Bustan al-Basha, which was partially reopened till the end of the maintenance and rehabilitation work, as Dr. Abdel-Hadi al-Hammoud, Chief Resident Doctors at the hospital explained that The cardiac, digestive, internal, thoracic, joint, and multiple sclerosis clinics have been reactivated since the beginning of this year to receive patients throughout the week and conduct all emergency analyzes, electrocardiograms, chest radiographs, axial tomography, and echocardiography, and work is underway to rehabilitate the rest of the medical departments to open the hospital completely.
At Jamal Abdel Nasser Medical Center in the liberated neighborhood of al-Halak, Dr. Fathi Sharabah, Head of the Center, spoke about the medical services provided to the neighborhoods of al-Halak, Bustan Al-Basha, Khan al-Zeitoun, Sheikh Faris and Sheikh Khudir, including vaccination, leishmaniasis, reproductive health and the children’s clinic, free of charge.
Meanwhile Dr. Michel Sa’adeh, Head of the Fourth Health Division at Aleppo Health Department, indicated that the center also receives suspected cases of being infected with the Coronavirus, and they are examined in a room designated for that and equipped with sterilizers, masks, gloves, and a full gown for the examining doctor, and a swab is taken from any suspected case and the center contacts the central response team to transport the patient and confirm his condition after conducting the necessary checkups.
Ruaa al-Jazaeri
