Dire medical crisis in Aleppo as attacks close two main hospitals

The two main hospitals in the rebel-held districts of Aleppo have shut down after being hit by air and artillery strikes. President Bashar al-Assad's forces pounded the besieged city in northern Syria in the early hours of Wednesday as they pressed an attempted ground force offensive to seize opposition areas.

The closure of the hospitals, known by medics as M-2 and M-10, will make the already dire medical situation nearly untenable for the almost 250,000 people trapped in the opposition-held areas. The World Health Organisation said there were only 35 doctors left there.

Since the collapse of the US-Russian brokered ceasefire last week, regime forces – backed by Russian warplanes – have unleashed a fierce air campaign on Aleppo in some of the heaviest strikes in Syria’s five-year civil war.

Aleppo is divided between opposition and regime forces that on Tuesday launched a ground offensive in attempt to retake the rebel-held east. The full capture of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, is seen as the biggest prize of the conflict.

Trauma centre

Air strikes at 4am on Wednesday battered the M-10 hospital, which doctors said was the largest and most important trauma centre.

Mohammed Abu Rajab

, a radiologist at the hospital, said the intensive care unit had been destroyed.

“Dust and rubble fell all over the patients in their beds,” Dr Abu Rajab said. “Breathing machines and other special equipment stopped working . . . a boy that died because we could not get the machines working.”

Most medical centres in Aleppo have already moved underground because of frequent air strikes. But now even subterranean facilities such as hospitals and orphanages are at risk because of the increasing use of seismic bombs known as “bunker busters” that can penetrate underground.

The M-10 hospital’s generators were damaged, as well as tanks storing drinking water and fuel – resources difficult to repair and replenish in the siege. “The hospital is now completely out of service – until when, we don’t know,” he said. “I’m incredibly depressed. Sadness has overwhelmed the staff because we can’t do our duty toward these patients.”

Brutal tactics

Blockades have become one of the most brutal and successful tactics of the Syrian war, used by all sides but most widely by regime forces. The UN estimates some 4.5 million people are “hard to reach”, while the monitoring group Siege Watch says 1 million people live under direct blockade. The siege of Aleppo could be one of the most horrific of the blockades, because of the large number of trapped residents.

Rebels have so far repelled the attempted ground invasion, which started around districts in Aleppo’s old city – a maze of ancient buildings, mosques and vaulted souk that have been nearly destroyed after years of fighting.

At Aleppo’s M-2 hospital, medics descended with 90 patients to underground shelters as artillery rounds and air strikes hit the hospital – just two days after a previous strike nearly shut the centre down. Aref al-Aref, a medic at the hospital, said two civilians being brought in by an ambulance were killed as the strikes began to hit at around 3am.

Medics described being trapped underground during the shelling: “No one can leave . . . there is dust all over and people are panicked,” said Baraa, a nurse.

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016)