WHO hopeful Assad Government will allow surgical supplies into Moadamiyeh

Healthcare workers received the “urgently needed” drugs on February 29 spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told this publication, citing antibiotics, anti-epileptics and analgesics as examples of pharmaceutical products that have been supplied.

Specific drugs included Pamecil, Procaine penicillin, Hyoscine  Butylbromide, Hydrocortisone, Gentamicin, Metronidazole, Valprid, B-Complex, Diclon, Lidosol, Ergomine, Metocal, DE-VOMIT, Rantan, Cefriaxone.

But the Organisation has not been allowed to provide some supplies Jasarevic said, explaining that: “Syrian authorities have for long time removed surgical items from the proposed list of medical supplies, so simply we are not delivering surgical supplies to hard-to-reach areas​.”

Removal​

In 2015, WHO reported nine similar incidents of removal of medical supplies destined for Homs, Aleppo, and Rural Damascus governorates, which it said had deprived more than 140 000 people of vital medical support. 

A 15 tonne consignment of pharmaceuticals was allowed into the city on February 19, however, according to the WHO, some vital medicines were removed from the shipment by Syrian authorities.

The February 29 drug shipment is the first to reach Moadamiyeh since the cessation of hostilities on February 27.

Elizabeth Hoff, WHO Representative in Syria, said: “We hope that surgical equipment will also be approved for prompt dispatch in the coming days" ​and called “on all parties to this conflict to allow unhindered access and unconditional delivery of medical aid​.”