Following Wednesday’s attacks on the Malteser International-supported children’s hospital in eastern Aleppo, during which staff and patients were trapped in the building’s cellar as twenty barrel bombs fell in the area of the hospital, the facility was struck once again by two missiles on Friday, November 18. This renewed bombardment, forced medical staff to abandon the heavily damaged building, where the treatment of patients had become impossible.
The estimated 90,000 children remaining in besieged eastern Aleppo are therefore at present without access to specialist medical treatment. “We are shocked and saddened by the consequences of this latest inhumane act, which has deprived the sick and wounded children of eastern Aleppo of the chance to receive medical help,” said Janine Lietmeyer, Malteser International’s Middle East manager.
Malteser International has been supporting the pediatric hospital since July 2015 – paying the salaries of staff members, and financing the purchase of equipment including ventilators and incubators. Malteser International also provides medical care for around 300,000 people living near the Syrian-Turkish border at four basic health units operated by its partner organization. More than half of these are internally displaced people living in camps
