Enab Baladi – Daraa

Intellectuals and notables in the city of Busra al-Sham in the eastern countryside of Daraa, in cooperation with Busra al-Sham National Hospital’s board of directors, have launched a fundraising campaign to secure medical and emergency supplies in the hospital to counter the pandemic of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

A committee consisting of dignitaries, actors, and some medical staff members is working to collect cash contributions from the people of Daraa and expatriates for maintenance of the hospital after the hospital’s medical and administrative staff identified the most significant obstacles that the hospital faces in stemming the coronavirus.

The committee, set up by notables and intellectuals, is the only body authorized to collect donations and oversee their spending in support of the hospital.

A member of the “Central Committee” who spoke on condition of anonymity with Enab Baladi said the total voluntary contributions, as of 13 August, 150 million Syrian Pounds (SYP- 70,754 USD).

The primary goals of collecting donations, are to maintain the oxygen concentrator, and sterilizers, and prepare a suitable place for quarantine, according to the committee member.

The amounts donated by people have reached 20 million SYP ( nearly 9,433.9 USD) (by a member of the negotiating committee, Khaled al-Mahamid).

The committee will remain open to receive voluntary contributions. 

Syrian government’s ignorance of Daraa hospitals

Mustafa al-Muhammad (aged 40 years old), a resident of Daraa countryside, told Enab Baladi that the donation-raising step reflects people’s awareness and responsibility in light of the Syrian regime’s continued ignoring of the health institutions, indicating that the damage and lack of equipment in “al-Busra” National Hospital are few compared to the costs and shortages in the rest of Daraa’s hospitals. 

Yassin Kaddah, a former employee of a medical organization that was working in southern Syria during the opposition’s control of the region, explained to Enab Baladi that al-Busra National Hospital was not bombed or “looted” because the city was subjected to a “settlement agreement” and the Syrian regime forces did not enter it.

He added that it was one of the essential hospitals during the control of the opposition, and was supervised by Doctors Without Borders.

Meanwhile, the rest of the hospitals in the governorate need vast sums of money that cannot be covered by donors, according to Yassin Kaddah.

COVID-19 preventive measures

At the beginning of August, the local councils in the cities and towns of Daraa countryside issued a set of precautionary measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, calling on the people to avoid gatherings, commit to wearing masks and gloves, sterilize shops, practice social distancing, and report any suspected case of coronavirus disease.

Syrian Red Crescent announced the registration of a new COVID-19  infection case among its cadres in Daraa.

Syrian Red Crescent said, in a statement on its Facebook page, on 12 July that it “confirmed that six volunteers were infected with the coronavirus in the organization’s branch in Daraa, after the first case among volunteers was registered, on the sixth of the same month.

The number of “coronavirus infections” increased in Daraa during the current August, and, according to the Ministry of Health statistics, nearly 29 COVID-19 cases are recorded: 23 active cases, and six cured cases.

The total number of coronavirus cases officially registered in Syria, as of 14 August, is 1,515, of which 403 cases have been cured, and 58 people have died due to the virus.