Mobile COVID-19 clinic launched in Syrian Kurdish town
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Local officials in the Kurdish-Christian town of Derik (al-Malikiyah) and a municipality in the German capital of Berlin recently teamed up to create a mobile medical clinic in the small northern Syrian city to treat residents infected with the coronavirus.
“Through donations and the support of the Berlin State Development Centre (LEZ) within the framework of a Covid 19 special programme for Berlin development projects, we were able to set up a Mobile Clinic in a short time,” the Twinning Association for Derik and Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg said in a public statement received by Kurdistan 24.
“It is intended to provide people in the villages around Derik with low-threshold access to medical care and thus improve the prevention and treatment of diseases,” said the organization.
In mid-October, the clinic began its work in the area, located in Hasakah province. It operates three days per week and offers a general medical consultation and treatment. The medical team, provided by the women’s rights organization WJAS (Foundation of the Free Woman in Syria), consists exclusively of female staff.
“Especially now in the corona pandemic, good basic medical care and corona prevention is essential for survival. In order to secure the work of the Mobile Clinic in the long term with medication, test kits, protective equipment and the salaries of the staff, we are still asking for support through donations. We are volunteers and forward 100% of the donations to the Mobile Clinic team,” the association said.
The partnership between Derik and Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district was formed in February 2019. The Twinning Association had previously carried out smaller projects in Derik with the cooperation of local residents, such as the restoration of a riverbed and the creation of neighborhood gardens.
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Günter Kleff, co-founder of the association told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday that “the goal of the project is to improve medical care, especially for women and children in the villages of Derik district in Northeastern Syria.”
“The project is not completely new. We have already been collecting donations since November 2019 for a similar project of WJAS,” he said, “In the course of inflation and the economic crisis in Syria, however, it became clear that WJAS alone would not make it.”
“And of course, the Mobile Clinic has also become particularly important due to the Corona pandemic since February 2020. Therefore, we decided to take care of the final financing in case the Mobile Clinic is deployed in the villages of our twinned town Derik.”
He added that the project and the vehicle that the staff works out of was funded solely from donations and WJAS, while the “equipment with medical devices and medication was financed by the Berlin State Development Centre (LEZ), which had set up a special COVID-19 funding programme for developmental organisations.”
“All in all, until now the funding so far has consisted of about one-third donations and two-thirds Berlin State funding,” he added.
The town of Derik is currently the city with the most COVID-19 infections in northeastern of Syria. As a result, the local authorities have imposed a lockdown since Nov. 6, closing down all schools, institutions, places of worship, markets, industrial shops, stadiums, and restaurants.
Restaurants are allowed to be open only in the mornings. It is also forbidden to enter or leave the city, except supply transports and ambulances in emergencies.
The Health Body of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) on Thursday announced a total of 46 new coronavirus cases over the previous 24 hours, including one death. This raised the total confirmed cases to date to over 7,368 since the onset of the pandemic. Of these, 225 people have died; and 1,066 are listed by authorities as having recovered.
Editing by John J. Catherine