Urgent appeal to deliver life-saving medicine for 20 children in Sweida

Under the hashtag #SaveNayaAndHerFriends, families in Sweida issued a public call through social media urging authorities to take immediate measures to ensure the delivery of the injections for twenty children before it is too late. The appeal comes only days after similar pleas to secure dialysis supplies and cancer treatments that are nearly depleted.

Among those affected, activist Anis Salloum wrote on social media that his six-year-old niece, Naya, is in desperate need of the injections. He warned that her health and the future of twenty other children are at stake.

According to reports, Sweida’s allocated share of the medicine is currently in Damascus but has yet to be sent, worsening the suffering of families struggling to secure this critical treatment for their children.

Activists have called on journalists, humanitarian organizations, and relief agencies to intervene immediately to establish channels of communication and delivery to safeguard the children’s lives and health.

Just days ago, a member of the Friends of Kidney Patients Association in Sweida warned that dialysis supplies were on the verge of running out, pointing to what she described as a systematic policy by the transitional government targeting the health sector.

The Friends of Cancer Patients Association in Sweida also issued an urgent appeal to international organizations and relevant authorities to provide treatment for 1,350 patients at risk, amid a severe shortage of medicines under the blockade imposed on Sweida. The association warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe as suffering increases, especially among patients stranded in Damascus.

Health organizations stress that timely access to essential medicines and treatments is critical to safeguarding children’s health, warning that delays could have severe consequences.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, confirmed yesterday that no life-saving medical supplies had reached Sweida. He emphasized that food, healthcare, water, and sanitation are of urgent importance, while access to life-saving medical supplies has become nearly impossible.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said last Monday that the situation in Sweida remains deeply concerning despite relative calm in the city and countryside, citing acute shortages of medicine, food, water, and electricity, as well as the paralysis of banks and markets.

Last Sunday, UNICEF expressed sorrow over the death of Khuzama al-Ahmad, a young woman from Sweida, who died due to a shortage of medical supplies in the city.

The lack of medicines and medical equipment, along with the shutdown of hospitals in Sweida under the blockade imposed by the transitional government since July 13, has led to the deaths of several patients in the province, including activist Shahira Azzam. Known as one of the free voices in al-Karama Square, Azzam carried the Syrian map and banners of freedom, chanting: “One, one, one… the Syrian people are one.”

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