"Syria ‘Weaponising Health Care,’ War Zones Doctor Annie Sparrow Tells Dail Members" - Michael McHugh
The Syrian regime is “weaponising” children’s health care during one of the worst crises in modern history, a front line doctor has said. Annie Sparrow, MD, MPH, MBBS, assistant professor of population health science and policy and assistant clinical professor of preventive medicine and pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said victims had been deliberately deprived of help. She is a pediatrician and specializes in emergency care in conflict zones and visited Syria recently. Dr. Sparrow gave evidence to members of the Dail and said President Bashar al Assad’s forces had deliberately destroyed hospitals and killed doctors. “It is weaponising health care in turning people’s need for health care into weapon against them, by depriving them of it.” Dr. Sparrow added: “They did not take to the streets to discover all these new ways of dying, of being shot at, of being disappeared and tortured, of being arrested, of being gassed with chemicals, of being forced to starve to death through siege.” The conflict has created 5.7 million refugees outside the country and a similar number of displaced people inside it, Dr. Sparrow added.
- Annie Sparrow, MD, MPH, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Population Health Science and Policy, Clinical Assistant Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai