Syria’s healthcare system on life support after 13 years of war and western sanctions

Doctors warn that the struggle to obtain medicine and repair hospitals has put patients’ lives at risk

Thirteen years of grinding war and crippling western sanctions have left Syria’s healthcare system in ruins, with the stricken sector marred by collapsed hospitals and pharmaceutical factories, as well as chronic shortages of medical staff and life-saving medicine, humanitarian officials and health professionals told media.

The country’s healthcare system was once among the most self-sufficient in the region, but now only 50 per cent of hospitals are fully functional. About 26 per cent maintain partial operations and 24 per cent are not functional at all, said Guglielmo Zambiasi, a healthcare specialist with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The functional hospitals are mainly found in major cities including Damascus, Hama, Aleppo, Tartus and Latakia.

“A lot of people are trying to find health care in these hospitals, but their medical systems are damaged and have reached a level where they need to be rehabilitated,” Mr Zambiasi told media.

In government-held areas, authorities are “trying to keep hospitals functional”, but there have been many cases when the “overwhelming number of patients and damage to the machines” affected the care given to those in need, he added.

Suhair Zakkout, a spokeswoman for the ICRC in Syria, told media that the civil war, which began with an uprising against the Syrian governement in 2011, has devastated every aspect of life in the country. “The efforts of the ICRC and other humanitarian groups have been just to sustain the minimum basic needs of the population. It cannot amount to the level of having people to recover from the conflict,” she added.

She warned that humanitarian assistance in the country is only enough to keep “Syrians’ noses above the water”.

“This is not enough. What Syrians need now is to really start the recovery.”

More than 12 million people in Syria are in dire need of health care, the World Health Organisation says. The crisis has been exacerbated by a lack of medical staff, a problem the UN body says has been “driven by displacement, death, injury and flight of health workers, particularly in north-east Syria”.

The destruction of infrastructure during the war, strict sanctions imposed by western powers and the Covid-19 pandemic have pushed Syria’s health services to the brink. The fighting has eased since 2011, but many organisations warn the health sector remains in a critical state.

“Now the situation is impacting everyone,” Mr Zambiasi said. “Before we were able to react to an emergency, now we don’t have the means to respond to a crisis.”

Hospitals and health centres require extensive repairs if they are to deliver a basic level of care, the UN says. But fixing hospitals is costly and humanitarian groups in Syria do not have the means to restore them. Sanctions also pose major obstacles to the Syrian government’s efforts to import medical devices, Aleppo health director Dr Ziad Al Hajj Taha told media.

“Even the [devices] that we have we can’t repair or get spare parts for, because most companies have left Syria after the sanctions were imposed and do not do business with us any more,” he added.

Pressure is mounting on health workers in Idlib province, north-west Syria, after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake last year. Large parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria were devastated, with more than 50,000 people killed.

Syrian GP Wael Al Jerk, 37, told media that the disaster damaged dozens of clinics and hospitals. “We don’t have enough beds or equipment to cater to the amount of people who need immediate care,” Dr Al Jerk warned.

He said border restrictions also had a severe effect on health care. “People are dying due to lack of medicine and equipment, and because of the border closures and movement restrictions.”

Damage to power stations after years of fighting has also hit health hard. It means that even hospitals with medical devices are unable to rely on them.

External factors have also harmed medical services in Syria. Most prominent are the sanctions imposed by western countries including the US.