WHO calls for safe routes to evacuate east Aleppo sick, wounded

Record ID: 85233

  • Title: WHO calls for safe routes to evacuate east Aleppo sick, wounded
  • Date: 27th September 2016
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS BUILDING CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION SPOKESWOMAN, FADELA CHAIB, SAYING: "The escalation of fighting in Aleppo is claiming more victims everyday. WHO is calling for an immediate establishment of humanitarian routes to evacuate sick and wounded from the eastern part of the city. So this is what WHO wants to do, to facilitate the evacuation of the wounded and sick from eastern Aleppo." REPORTERS AT WORK (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION SPOKESWOMAN, FADELA CHAIB, SAYING: "We are talking about only 35 doctors left in east Aleppo to take care of hundreds of wounded people and the number is increasing, I mean it's not just one attack it's a daily attack on civilians so you can guess, you can imagine how many wounded are trying to get some medical help in such circumstances when you have only 35 doctors, it's a worrisome situation." REPORTERS AT WORK (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA SPOKESWOMAN, JESSY CHAHINE, QUOTING U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY STAFFAN DE MISTURA, SAYING: "The overwhelming danger to civilians in Aleppo today is from the sustained aerial bombardment with indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas. This is of course in-humane, merciless, sinful and barbaric. It may amount to war crimes and it must stop." EXTERIOR OF THE UN BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 12th October 2016 11:13
  • Keywords: Aleppo injured sick health
  • Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA00151CEC07
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Tuesday (September 27) for sick and wounded people in the embattled eastern part of the Syrian city of Aleppo to be evacuated through safe corridors for treatment.
    A massive Russian-backed assault is under way on the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, where the WHO said only 35 doctors remained to care for at least 250,000 people.
    "The escalation of fighting in Aleppo is claiming more victims everyday. WHO is calling for an immediate establishment of humanitarian routes to evacuate sick and wounded from the eastern part of the city. So this is what WHO wants to do, to facilitate the evacuation of the wounded and sick from eastern Aleppo," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing in Geneva.
    "We are talking about only 35 doctors left in east Aleppo to take care of hundreds of wounded people and the number is increasing, I mean it's not just one attack it's a daily attack on civilians so you can guess, you can imagine how many wounded are trying to get some medical help in such circumstances when you have only 35 doctors, it's a worrisome situation," she said.
    Syrian doctors said on Monday they were in dire need of medical and surgical supplies to treat hundreds of wounded people among a trapped population of some 300,000.
    The Syrian doctors said at least 40 wounded people in eastern Aleppo needed to be evacuated, but most wanted to be sent to rebel-held areas or abroad, not to the government-controlled western side of the city.
    The U.N., through its special envoy to Syria, condemned the shelling in Aleppo.
    "The overwhelming danger to civilians in Aleppo today is from the sustained aerial bombardment with indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas. This is of course in-humane, merciless, sinful and barbaric. It may amount to war crimes and it must stop," said Jessy Chahine, spokeswoman for U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, quoting his words at Tuesday's briefing.
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