Dozens of cancer patients from north-west Syria demonstrated at a border crossing with Turkey for permission to enter and receive medical treatment in the neighboring country. According to eyewitnesses, the patients set up tents and beds for the protest at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. The head of the oncology program at the US aid organization SAMS, Bassil Atassi, said: “It is urgent. The borders must be opened.” The lives of many cancer patients are in danger. Among other things, SAMS supports hospitals in the northwest of the civil war country.
The region is cut off from the rest of the country and there is no state aid. After more than ten years of civil war, medical care is very poor. Only about two-thirds of medical facilities were fully operational last year, with more of them partially or completely destroyed by the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey in February.
The UN and EU often bear the costs
Bab al-Hawa is the main humanitarian crossing point for north-western Syria. Turkey is not obliged to let people enter for treatment. According to human rights activists, the costs for the treatments are often borne by the United Nations and the European Union.
After the devastating earthquakes in February, Turkey did not accept cancer patients for a long time. Just a few weeks ago, patients came across the border again – around 260 who had previously been treated in Turkey. According to the health director of the Syrian province of Idlib, around 600 other cancer patients are currently waiting to enter Turkey, including around 100 children. Up to 3,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in north-west Syria every year, according to a report by SAMS and Relief International (RI).
“My situation is miserable,” said a leukemia patient of the dpa. “If I don’t receive treatment, my health will deteriorate.” Another man said his three-year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor after the earthquake and needed urgent radiotherapy after surgery. “We are calling on Turkey to reopen the border,” he said. Otherwise his son will “get sick again and die”.
