JINHA

AMED – Reports on medical conditions in Kobanê paint a daunting picture for the reconstruction of the city.

The hundreds of delegates from the four parts of Kurdistan and Europe who have gathered for the conference in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakır will face a number of issues in their efforts to rebuild the city, reports being shared at the conference today show. One of those is the inadequate medical infrastructure in the city.

HülyaAlökmenUyanık, of the executive council of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Health Assembly, presented a report on health conditions in the city that urged the immediate creation of a military hospital for first response services and then a 250-bed general service hospital.

"The Kobanê Canton did not have an organized health system before the urban war," noted the report.Before the war, Syrian Red Crescent and Assad regime had provided limited primary services such as vaccinations.The health system was dominated by private health providers and clinics in larger villages (population over 10,000). The three hospitals in the city were at times only partly functional, and there was no system for educating healthcare professionals.

During the war, one of the three hospitals in the city center was totally destroyed, one looted and only a third remained open for partial service, which was provided at a cost during the attacks. Health professionals opened emergency services and a makeshift operating theater in a school in the city. Although the staff of 12 did everything possible to provide health services, the report called the physical conditions "extremely bad."

Ongoing basic health problems include a lack of sterile conditions, water drainage and electricity. The report noted that current conditions for disease include the lack of potable water, widespread waste and rodent problems, mines and the corpses that still remain under the rubble. The sewage system is destroyed except for parts of the Western side of the city.

(fk/cm)