A medical team from Egypt, affiliated to the Arab Medical Union (AMU), Emergency and Relief Agency, have returned home from Syria, having treated people injured there in the hideous raids perpetrated by the Syrian regime. “The raids do not discriminate among citizens. For example, the regime recently bombed a bakery, killing and injuring many people who were queueing for bread. “Hospitals are being bombed too, while doctors treat the victims of other bombings," says Assistant Professor Amr Abdel-Baqi, a member of the team. “Many women and children have been killed in the bombings," he explains, stressing that they treated anyone they were asked to, whether for or against President Bashar Al-Assad. The Syrians medical teams have been suffering psychologically, constantly fearing that their relatives or friends will be injured or killed in the raids. Dr Abdel-Baqi notes that they started treating Syrian refugees, as soon as they reached the border with Lebanon. They had to swiftly organise a room where they could operate on the seriously injured. Dr Abdel-Moneim Abul Futouh, AMU Secretary-General, has appealed to all world organisations to come to the aid of Syria, which is in urgent need of financial assistance to further the good work already started by the Emergency and Relief Agency (ERA). Abul Fotouh told a press conference that Egypt's first medical team to work in Syria deserve to be honoured, as their work there has been very difficult. He stressed that Egyptians medical teams must be provided with a secure place in which to do their work, appealing to the media to launch a campaign for raising money to support the ERA. “Before the team went to Syria, we wondered whether they ought to," says Dr Hisham Eissa, co-ordinator of relief and emergencies at the AMU. “But now we realise that all relief organisations should urgently send teams to Syria, because the situation is deteriorating there." The Egyptian team worked for a fortnight in Syria, treating an average of 20 cases daily. Eissa notes that Egyptian doctors performed 70 surgical operations, while they also helped set up a number of field hospitals, adding that they were attacked by Syrian thugs on the Lebanese-Syrian border. “Things look like they're going to get worse in Syria, because most factories and essential facilities have stopped working," warns Eissa grimly.
