Médecins Sans Frontières- March 08, 2018-  Brussels – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today releases medical data collected from the hospitals and clinics that the independent medical humanitarian organization supports in Syria’s besieged East Ghouta enclave. Covering the first two-week period of the military offensive, the numbers reveal a relentless barrage of mass casualty influxes; at a time when medical supplies are extremely limited, medical facilities have been hit by bombs or shells, and the medics are completely exhausted.

In the two weeks between the evening of 18 February to the evening of 03 March 2018, the medical data reveal 4,829 wounded and 1,005 dead – or 344 wounded and 71 dead per day on average. These data are collected from 10 medical facilities to which MSF provides a full package of support and a further 10 facilities to which MSF has been providing emergency medical donations from its remaining medical stocks inside the East Ghouta enclave. Two of these facilities have yet to submit data for 03 March, so this is an underestimate. There are many other medical facilities in East Ghouta that are not supported by MSF, meaning that the overall toll is significantly higher.

“The numbers alone speak volumes. But even more telling are the words we hear from the medics we are supporting on the ground,” said Meinie Nicolai, MSF General Director. “Daily, we hear an increasing sense of hopelessness and despair, as our medical colleagues reach the limits of what a person can be expected to do. They are exhausted to the point of collapse, grabbing a few moments’ sleep as and when possible, permanently in fear of bombs or shells directly hitting their location. They are trying their best to keep some semblance of a medical service operating, but everything is overwhelmingly stacked against them. The situation, and the unrelenting trampling of the rules of war by the fighting partiesMédecins Sans Frontières are pushing them to do the impossible.”Brussels – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today releases medical data collected from the hospitals and clinics that the independent medical humanitarian organization supports in Syria’s besieged East Ghouta enclave. Covering the first two-week period of the military offensive, the numbers reveal a relentless barrage of mass casualty influxes; at a time when medical supplies are extremely limited, medical facilities have been hit by bombs or shells, and the medics are completely exhausted.

In the two weeks between the evening of 18 February to the evening of 03 March 2018, the medical data reveal 4,829 wounded and 1,005 dead – or 344 wounded and 71 dead per day on average. These data are collected from 10 medical facilities to which MSF provides a full package of support and a further 10 facilities to which MSF has been providing emergency medical donations from its remaining medical stocks inside the East Ghouta enclave. Two of these facilities have yet to submit data for 03 March, so this is an underestimate. There are many other medical facilities in East Ghouta that are not supported by MSF, meaning that the overall toll is significantly higher.

“The numbers alone speak volumes. But even more telling are the words we hear from the medics we are supporting on the ground,” said Meinie Nicolai, MSF General Director. “Daily, we hear an increasing sense of hopelessness and despair, as our medical colleagues reach the limits of what a person can be expected to do. They are exhausted to the point of collapse, grabbing a few moments’ sleep as and when possible, permanently in fear of bombs or shells directly hitting their location. They are trying their best to keep some semblance of a medical service operating, but everything is overwhelmingly stacked against them. The situation, and the unrelenting trampling of the rules of war by the fighting parties, are pushing them to do the impossible.”