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Anas Al Kassem leans forward slightly toward the computer screen as the sound of a Skype call fills his home office in Ancaster, Ont.
The surgeon was unsure if he would be able to see his friend at an orthopedic hospital in the earthquake-ravaged northwest Syrian province of Idlib.
This time, he was lucky.
“Hello, how are you?” Al Kassem asked.
On the other hand, Dr. Sameah Qaddour told me that she and her medical team have been performing 50 procedures a day and sleep about four hours a night. Even so, they are forced to turn away hundreds of other patients because they do not have the capacity to evaluate or provide ongoing care.
The hospital operated by Qaddour was damaged by the quake. A video shared with CBC News shows visible cracks in the ceiling and places where rocks have fallen from the walls. The staff there did not know if the building was safe, but had no choice but to continue using it.
WATCH | Cracks have appeared in the ceiling of this Syrian hospital:
This video is from Dr. Sameah Qaddour shows some of the damage in the Idlib hospital where he treats hundreds of patients.
“They lack antibiotics and painkillers and anesthetics,” Al Kassem said, translating for Qaddour.
Another video shows patients of all ages in chaotic and crowded hospital wards, some even being treated on the floor. Children can be heard crying and screaming in the background as medical staff frantically move from case to case.
While aid has been flowing into Turkey, medics on the Syrian border told CBC News they have yet to see aid or supplies.
Al Kassem is part of a small group of Canadian and American medical personnel who plan to enter Syria later this week and bring aid and supplies though the Union of Organizations of Medical Care and Assistance-Canada (UOSSM). The group also sent a container of medical supplies from Ottawa, which they hope will make it across the border.
Conditions were harsh even before the earthquake
More than 33,000 people were killed in an earthquake near the Turkish-Syrian border on February 6, with more than 5,700 reported dead on the Syrian side, according to Reuters.
Even before the earthquake, it was difficult to get help to Syria through tightly control limits.
The area of northwestern Syria hardest hit by the earthquake is under rebel control, following years of brutal civil war with President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
In 2020, Russia and China vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution to continue allowing aid to flow into northwestern Syria from two crossings, reducing what would have been a single crossing, at Bab al-Hawa.
On Monday, a week after the earthquake, the United Nations announced that Assad had agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the northwest to allow better delivery of much-needed aid, including equipment, for an initial period of three months. .
A UN convoy carrying aid such as blankets and hygiene kits was scheduled to arrive via Bab al-Hawa before the earthquake could only pass on Thursday. Those on the ground say that is not enough given the scale of the disaster.
On Sunday, Raed Al Saleh, the head of the Syrian Civil Defense (also known as the White Helmets), called for faster opening of border routes to disaster zones and criticized what he called the UN’s slow response.
“Waiting for the authorization of the UN Security Council to reopen the border crossing to the northwest is completely misguided, this unnecessary stalling will only cost more,” Al Saleh said in a release.
“We urgently need the UN to open another border crossing to the north-west of Syria so that cross-border humanitarian aid can flow unhindered. Failure to escalate the delivery of medical aid quickly will leave the UN with more blood on its hands.”
‘No medical equipment, no food’
Muhaid Kaddour, another surgeon working in the Idlib field hospital, confirmed that as of Friday, he had not received help.
“When I said nothing, I didn’t mean anything until now [has entered] across the border from Turkey or from people from other regions,” he said in a video he recorded and sent to CBC News. “No medical equipment, no food. Five days after the earthquake: nothing.”
Kaddour added her voice to the chorus of calls for help from aid groups and other countries and to keep the borders open to allow supplies to flow in.
“The disaster is very big and very difficult. We need your support,” he said.
WATCH | Syrian surgeon Dr. Muhaid Kaddour asked for help:
In a video sent to CBC News Friday, Dr. Muhaid Kaddour said field hospitals in Idlib province have not received supplies or food.
Hospitals in the area were in a state of disrepair before the earthquake and most depended on aid from aid organizations.
“The hospital was built or built during the last 10 years of the war. It is a fragile hospital. They are not well equipped,” explained Al Kassem. “Turkey is more advanced than Syria, if you will.”
He said the Assad regime and years of Russian airstrikes had worsened the situation in northwestern Syria.
WATCH | A view from inside a collapsed and overwhelmed hospital in Idlib province, Syria:
Syrian hospitals are overwhelmed with earthquake victims who need medical help. Supplies like painkillers and antibiotics have run out.
“They don’t have a health care system,” Al Kassem said. “They don’t have the government to support the hospitals and clinics. It’s actually NGOs like us that support the centers and clinics.”
The amount of aid that has crossed the border is not enough, he said.
“I talk to doctors every day, and nurses on the ground. They do hundreds of procedures.” He mentioned one small hospital that received 500 cases on the first day of the earthquake, and could only admit 120.
“Imagine the amount of supplies needed for that operation. It’s not a simple operation. It’s, you know, broken bones, and there’s spinal and brain surgery.”
‘He needs advanced medical care’
Al Kassem has made many trips with NGOs during Syria’s civil war, but expects his upcoming visit to be different.
“I think it’s more because of the scale of the disaster and because of the short time [in which] happened,” he said. “Imagine the region of Idlib and northern Syria has four million people. Almost three million are internally displaced.”
Al Kassem said many people suffered “crushing injuries”, which required complex treatment. Some subdural hematomas need to be drained, while others may experience abdominal bleeding.
“They need advanced health care in an ICU setting, and on top of that, crush injuries can cause muscle crush syndrome and affect the kidneys, causing some kidney failure as well. So you need a dialysis unit.”
WATCH | Dr. Anas Al Kassem explains the dire need for aid in Syria:
Dr. Anas Al Kassem said that the aid response to the earthquake in Syria has not been good and explained why the need for medical aid is so great.
For many, the risk of infection and diseases like cholera combined with the lack of clean water and food will further threaten their survival.
Those immediate needs will be replaced by different long-term needs, Al Kassem said, such as reconstructive, rehabilitation and prosthetic surgery. All of them, doctors say, need constant help and open borders.
As the Skype call with Quaddour drew to a close, he took some time to get more help with Canada.
“They are asking the Canadian government, the Canadian people, to send supplies as soon as possible,” Al Kassem said.
“They consider Canada a peaceful country, known for its significant humanitarian impact in a crisis like this, to be able to send supplies directly to them.”
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