Global aid organisation Gift of the Givers has opened up a second hospital in Syria, as the number of causalities in the country’s civil war continues to war. The increased threat of attack, the influx of refugees from other parts of Syria and the patient overload demanded a further significant intervention, said Dr Imtiaz Sooliman. The Turkish Red Crescent deployed and donated an outstanding field hospital to Gift of the Givers. This new hospital opened on Sunday and is much closer to the Turkish border for security purposes.

“There has been an influx of patients already. This hospital will be managed by Dr Ahmad Ghandour, our medical manager from the Darkoush Hospital. Our 180 member medical and support staff will service both facilities. There will be a need to increase the medical personnel and provide more medicines and disposable supplies,” Sooliman told VOC Drivetime.

The exodus of millions of Syrians seeking refugee status in Europe and elsewhere is indicative of a major catastrophe inside Syria. Gift of the Givers medical teams have been a witness to the pain, suffering, extensive injuries and deaths of thousands inside Syria. Its response was to set up an emergency hospital in Darkoush in January 2013 within 70 days.

The popularity of the hospital grew rapidly necessitating an expansion both of the ground floor and an addition of two more floors. This expansion required the provision of more specialized equipment, increasing the medical personnel complement and procuring huge quantities of medicines and disposable medical supplies at huge cost.

The hospital faced further challenges. As more and more hospitals, health care centers and ambulances were deliberately targeted by Assad’s regime, the influx of casualties multiplied in the Gift of the Givers Ar Rahmah Hospital.

“This hospital has become the largest and possibly only effective functioning hospital in all North Syria. The hospital was under constant threat of attack since inception in January, but 2015 has been especially harrowing with bombs extensively destroying large parts of Darkoush city with the hospital suffering destruction of doors and windows. On more than one occasion the equipment, medical personnel and patients had to be evacuated to safer undisclosed locations,” said Sooliman.

Contributions to Gift of the Givers, Standard Bank, Pietermaritzburg, Account No. 052278611, Branch Code 057525, are most welcome in the interest of serving the suffering Syrian people.