50 tons of medical supplies funded by the European Union arrived in Istanbul on Thursday, coordinated by the World Health Organization, in preparation for their distribution to health facilities inside Syria.
The plane carrying the medical supplies landed at Istanbul Airport in preparation for their transfer to Mersin Province in southern Turkey before their distribution in Syria.
In statements from inside Istanbul Airport, the WHO Representative in Turkey, Pierre Nabeth, said that the medical supplies were brought from Dubai, where the organization has a large warehouse for emergency cases.
Nabeth added: “Among the medical supplies are surgical kits for trauma units and various medications.”
He pointed out that the aforementioned medical supplies are funded by the European Union and were brought in coordination with the World Health Organization.
Nabeth stated that they carried out this operation via Turkey because the security situation in Syria is still fragile.
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He continued: “We will continue to transport supplies to Syria. The supplies that arrived by air will be transported to Mersin by truck. From there, they will be distributed inside Syria via Hatay Province (southern Turkey).”
“Our partner organizations will distribute supplies to hospitals in Syria,” he explained.
Assessing Syria’s health infrastructure, Nabeth said: “Health activities in Syria are not very good. Only half of the hospitals are functioning.”
“We can say that many people do not have access to health facilities. Cholera and other infectious diseases are spreading in some areas of Syria,” he added.
“We have to be very careful about this. The shipments of supplies have arrived at a very important time,” Nabeth added.
It is worth noting that 141 health facilities in Idlib province (northwest) and northern Aleppo (north) were at risk of closure by the end of the year due to lack of funding, and these supplies will help fill the gaps.
On December 8, Syrian factions took control of the capital Damascus and other cities before it, ending 61 years of Baath Party rule and 53 years of the Assad family regime.
