UNHCR delivers medical supplies to treat up to 11,000 people in Dara’a city.
Medical supplies to treat up to 11,000 people have been delivered on March 11, 2017 to Dara’a city by the UN Refugee Agency Field Office in Swaida governorate.
This was the first time in two years that the UN Refugee Agency is able to reach Dara’a, 100 km south of the capital, due to the unrest in the area. “The purpose of this initiative was to cover the health gap in the provision of primary health care within the city.” said the Head of UNHCR’s Field Office in Swaida, Fadela Novak.
These vital medical supplies are badly needed by medical facilities in the city. It’s part of ongoing efforts to continue the work of Al-Bir Association, since it is the only non-Governmental organisation that provides primary health care inside the city despite the continuous fighting.
The supplies are destined for Al-Bir Association which provides an essential health service to the impoverished people living for more than six years in this war.
According to Novak, this initiative was undertaken by UNHCR following recent visits to Dara’a and as a follow-up to UNHCR Swaida Field Office mission at the end of January 2017, when the needs for medicine were further confirmed by local authorities.
This medical dispatch follows other relief supplies dispatched by UNHCR as an emergency response to Dara’a governorate on 8 March, where a convoy of four trucks including blankets, sleeping bags, mattresses, plastic sheets, sleeping mats, kitchen sets, hygiene kits and winter clothes, in addition to home-based rehabilitation kits delivered to support 500 newly displaced families in Dara’a city.
“We will contribute to easing the pressure on the general hospital in Dara’a”
Most hospitals and clinics in Dara’a city have seen their capacity dramatically reduced as a result of the crisis and are not able to receive patients while the city has a high number of internally displaced people and is still receiving new displacements from neighbouring towns. As the fighting continues, pharmacies also face a lack of medicines.
“UNHCR hopes that by supporting the Al-Bir clinic with this donation of medicine, we will contribute to easing the pressure on the general hospital in Dara’a and responding to the urgent needs for medication”, Novak said.
UNHCR was the first humanitarian agency to respond to the emergency needs in Dara’a governorate. UNHCR currently has 7,000 non-food item kits repositioned for future response in Dar’a.
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