'I love my job' - Syrian medical workers are defiant despite regime attacks and dwindling resources in rebel-held Idlib
Abo Hosam knows loss. The 37-year-old has lost four brothers since civil war started in Syria in 2011.
The native of Maraat al-Nouman in Idlib has a vast job description. His team consists of four ambulances and their crews, with no one having a specific speciality because death can claim any one of them at anytime. Death is part of the job description. Coming across those killed by the war has become such a frequent occurrence that he describes it as “terrible but normal at the same time”.“I love my work, I’m so happy when I’m driving people to safety in the ambulance,” he told TRT World. “Rescuing innocent lives is what gives my life meaning and it makes me stronger.”
“I was in the room with others patients when the building felt like it jumped off the ground,” he said.“All I could hear was the sound of people screaming, shouting for the doctors to help.” The patients were then transferred to Maraat al-Nouman by ambulance, which Mohammed said was a journey filled with the anxiety that the vehicle too could be hit by warplanes.According to Dr Fares al-Jundi, the opposition minister for health in northern Syria, strikes on medical facilities had led to a “massive” deterioration in the care medics were able to provide the sick and wounded.
In addition to the regime attacks, lack of funds, and diminishing supplies, doctors also complain of frequent power cuts that leave them unable to care for patients with special requirements, such as life support machines.
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