Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette April is the month dedicated to appreciating healthcare workers worldwide. Healthcare workers are caretakers, educators, neighbors, and friends. Despite profound advances in medicine in developed countries, many people in underdeveloped countries and in war-stricken areas continue to suffer needlessly from preventable and easily treatable diseases. According to the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, healthcare workers — midwives, community health workers, health educators, physician's assistants, counselors, nurses, and doctors — are providing health care in hard to reach areas, often traveling on foot with just a backpack of supplies, and sometimes risking their lives. In April, the World Health Organization is calling on the world community to join the effort to support, appreciate, and raise awareness of the important role of healthcare workers everywhere. The global inequalities in health care provision must be brought to the forefront of the attention of the general public and of policymakers around the world. According to the WHO, 57 countries have severe healthcare worker shortages. The WHO estimates that more than 4 million healthcare workers are needed to fill the gaps. Healthcare workers educate their communities on the benefits of breastfeeding, hand washing, and other healthy behaviors. They provide immunizations and treat common infections. They teach simple ways to prevent health problems such as childhood diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. Healthcare workers in poor, rural areas face many challenges but they do their best and they manage to make a real difference in their communities. Publicizing the Health Care Workers Week in April, the Global Health Workforce Alliance and Save the Children mentioned some amazing examples. “Every day people can come to my house for care or I will go to their homes if they prefer. My door is open 24 hours a day for the people in my village,” said Desita, a midwife in Indonesia. In Malawi, healthcare worker Chisomo Boxer travels a total of 22.5 kms on bicycle each day to reach the villages where he treats people. Healthcare worker Felix Ramirez in Guatemala starts his working day at 8 a.m. and he returns home at 9 p.m. He said, “Here in the community there are a lot of people who value my work. That makes me feel good.” Selfless, devoted healthcare workers are deserving of recognition, support, and tribute. As the world celebrates the month of healthcare workers, we must not forget those working in Syria; putting their own lives at risk to serve, under deplorable conditions and with a sharp depravity in even the most basic of medical supplies and medications. Government forces have deliberately targeted medical professionals, hospitals, ambulances, and supplies, preventing people from getting medical care and stopping medical professionals from providing critically needed services and treatment. Vincent Lacopino, the senior medical adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, reported in the Lancet Global Health Journal that only 30 doctors remained in eastern Ghouta, located on the outskirts of Damascus, out of more than 1,000 who were working there before the conflict. An estimated 15,000 doctors have fled Syria altogether to this date. Numerous medical facilities have been destroyed or damaged. In Homs, almost half of the public health centers are no longer functioning. States are obligated to protect the physician's ability to objectively heal the sick and treat the injured under the principle of medical neutrality, which is embedded in international humanitarian law. Medical neutrality ensures safe access to medical facilities, protects health-care workers and their patients, and allows medical workers to provide unbiased care. However, physicians and other health workers in Syria are often seen as the enemy, being harassed, intimidated, tortured, and killed for doing their job of treating the sick and injured. The healthcare workers in Syria are true heroes, because they are literally risking their lives to care for the sick and wounded. “In Syria, nearly 400 medical professionals have been killed in the conflict and more than 30 Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers have died providing humanitarian assistance. For every reported death, there are likely many others that will never come to light. If nothing is done by the world community to protect healthcare workers in Syria, the continued attacks on medical personnel and facilities will result in exponentially increased mortality among the sick and wounded and will profoundly undermine the country's capacity to care for all Syrians” said Lacopino. In a Times magazine article written by Aryn Baker, oncologist Michel Abdallah, who fled from Syria to Jordan last year and is now treating Syrian refugees in Jordan, said, “The situation is really bad. There are situations where a dermatologist might play the role of a dentist or a surgeon. We are losing patients who could have easily survived in normal circumstances.” Healthcare workers are converting homes, villas, and offices into clinics to treat Syrian opposition fighters and civilians in secret. In northern Syria, a seven-person healthcare international team is working in conjunction with a group of Syrian doctors. Brian Moller, an anesthetic nurse on the team, related to Scott Sayare of the New York Times that their unit has only 12 beds yet they have about 300 patients. They have been treating victims of shelling, mortar attacks, rockets, and sniper fire. In the New York Times article, Moller said, “Certainly what we're doing is not enough. It's a drop in the ocean. Medical supplies are lacking and among the Syrian doctors who have remained in the country, very few of them have experience in treating battle wounds.” “There are a lot of good intentions but far too many preventable deaths,” said Moller.
