Mseifra Hospital in Daraa Province in southern Syria, damaged by Russian-regime airstrikes, June 2018 (Mohamad Abazeed/AFP/Getty)
The Assad regime is systemically denying health care to residents in Daraa Province in southern Syria, after fully reoccupying the area in July 2018.
A report by Physicians for Human Rights documents failure to rebuild facilities damaged by Russian-regime attacks, restriction of aid and health programs supported by the UN and international NGOs, and denial of care to certain parts of the province.
Daraa, the initial site of the March 2011 uprising against the regime, was subjugated after a six-week offensive by pro-Assad forces enabled by Russia. Under the Assad proclamation of “reconciliation”, the regime agreed to reinstate all dismissed Government employees, including those at the Health Ministry, and to rebuild civil government institutions and the public health sector.
But two years later, most of the population still has no access to adequate health services, with more than 446,000 civilians needing humanitarian aid. Witnesses say that aid is often diverted by the regime, through lists that are given to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent only after security personnel have removed the families of those who are blacklisted.
The situation is compounded by the Coronavirus pandemic, whose extent has been obscured by the regime. Official reports claim only 11,138 cases and 686 deaths in regime areas since March: medics, activists, aid workers, and residents say the actual number is far higher.
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There are no laboratories to process Coronavirus tests in Daraa, and facilities were not repaired before the onset of the pandemic. At the start of 2020, there were only 310 beds in public hospitals, compared to 810 before the start of the conflict. Of eight national or public hospitals, only the center in Daraa city is fully functioning.
Many qualified health care workers, fearing violence and retribution from regime security forces, have fled or been forcibly displaced. In 2019, the number of doctors per 10,000 residents in Daraa was 1.1, compared to 20.3 in Damascus and 15.3 in Latakia in western Syria.
