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The Daesh’ seizure of the province of Deir Ezzor in 2014 was followed by the collapse of the whole medical services. Things began to change from bad to worse. The region ran out of medicines, causing their prices to raise dramatically, and the medical stuff started to flee the group-controlled territory while those who did not make it were arrested and killed. The looting of health facilities and transporting them to Iraq badly affected the region on a large-scale level. What made the situation even worse was the increase in prices of medical treatment, which helpless civilians could not afford.
The health centers are either looted or bombed
The health facilities, which were not looted by Daesh, were bombed by the Assad’s warplanes, making them unusable. A D24 in Daesh-controlled neighborhoods of Deir Ezzor city said that there is still a lack of medical services in the group-held areas. There are only two medical centers – the Said Hospital and the field hospital in the Sheikh Yassin neighborhood, the latter was transformed into a woman hospital after the closure of the Qahtan maternity hospital by the organization.
Concerning the countryside, a D24 correspondent confirmed that there are only one ineffective medical point established in the countryside, in addition to the Taqwa field hospital located between the western and eastern countryside of the province, which is considered the biggest hospital providing medical services according to its capacity.
Some medical stuff fled while others were killed
Most of the medical stuff operating in Daesh-held areas in Syria have been complaining about the abuses they are subjected to when practicing their job. Some were even killed on different charges, creating a void in the medical domain in the region.
Deir Ezzor is facing an extreme shortage of medical staff members that some nurses are now operating most of the hospitals in the region. The organization has pursued and killed the majority of the doctors who had been in the region, on various charges. Two doctors were recently killed after being arrested in the neighborhoods of the city by the group.
The emergence and spread of several diseases due to many reasons
The polluting of water caused by the rendering of the water treatment plants out of service, and the polluted environment which is the result of the usage of primitive means to extract oil, have led to the emergence of several diseases among the locals, including epidemic hepatitis, Malta fever, TB and icterus typhoides and the list goes on.
Sky-high increase in prices of medicine:
Daesh-controlled areas of Deir Ezzor are experiencing a sharp lack of medicines and a sky-high increase in their prices, as they are transported either from the regime-held areas or from the opposition-controlled areas in northern Syria. Since the medicines are smuggled into Daesh-controlled areas, their prices are high.
The pharmacies in the region do not bring large amounts of medicines for fear of the targeting of their pharmacies by Assad’s warplanes or the coalition, in addition to being afraid of being arrested by the organization. Most of the medicines that are currently unavailable in the province are as following:
Medicines for heart disease, diabetes, polio vaccines and rabies. If they were available, their prices would remain unaffordable.
Civilians remain the most affected in the province of Deir Ezzor and the ones paying the price for the war between the coalition, the Assad-regime and Daesh.
