Syrian Health Services Questioned

Syrian security forces have been accused of violating human rights in Syria over the last months. It has been said that Syria has been targeting doctors and raiding hospitals in order to find wounded protesters who are against the Syrian regime. Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Local Coordination Committees (LCC) have seen how a number of doctors and pharmacists have been arrested in the last couple of weeks and how patients have also been taken away from hospitals, preventing doctors from treating them.

This is not the first time this issue is raised. In August the Syrian authorities were also accused of “attacking” people working in health, and those in need of medical facilities, through a report issued by Physicians for Human Rights, based in the United States.

Hospitals have also been controlled by security forces that have forced doctors and nurses to inform them of who enters the hospitals. This was, in most cases, not allowing the health services in the country to help people in need because they were protesters. This situation also led to the arrest of many patients and the decision of others who decided to heal their wounds at home.

It is believed that the uprising is becoming increasingly militarized, something worrying for the civilians, who are starting to suffer the consequences in their own skin; LCC and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have confirmed that at least 12 civilians were killed on Monday in Homs by Syrian security forces.

In my opinion this is a clear violation of human rights. The right of health assistance should not depend on the side a person takes in a conflict, and even less in one like this where the uprising has been going on for about five months and does not look like it is going to end soon.

A large number of Syrians are involved in this uprising and if security forces continue to control hospitals, or try to control them more than they already are, things can get worse. I think it is not going to benefit the Syrian security forces as I think it will only produce more unrest and bitterness among the protesters.

There is proof behind all these allegations so I guess it could get to the point where an international intervention to support human rights might be necessary, but we will have to wait and see how the conflict evolves.

Article: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/10/17/3449469/syrian-regime-accused-of-targeting.html#ixzz1b4lIjYox