Syrian hospitals go underground to dodge Russia’s aggression

Some rooms at Rakaya Hospital are six meters deep, but they are not being used as temporary morgues.

Rather, their purpose is keep patients and doctors alive in a country so used to death.

Pharmacist Amer al-Salloumm told Andalou Agency that while digging underground rooms may help protect medical staff who are often targeted by Russian and regime warplanes, it is not ideal for storing medicine because of the humidity.

Fuel for electric generators to power the underground rooms is scarce and most often insufficient.

Even so, Salloumm believes that “suffering underground, however, is much better than facing death or amputation.”

Located near the city of Idlib, the field hospital has been treating Syria’s wounded since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.

Approximately 50,000 people have been treated for various war-related injuries onsite without pay, despite the fact that it is severely underequipped and understaffed due to financial constraints.

Field Hospital Manager Dr. Abdo Kandah told Anadolu Agency that the hospital has been receiving a very high volume of people serverly wounded from airstrikes.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Russian warplanes have targeted 163 facilities in Syria since September 2015, including hospitals, schools and mosques.

Anadolu Agency