Russian earthquake hospital begins work in Syria

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The Russian multi-purpose hospital officially began operating on March 11 in Aleppo, Syria, to help treat victims of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 50,000 people in Syria and Turkey combined.

A multidisciplinary team of doctors from the Federal Center for Disaster Medicine of the Russian Ministry of Health has arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo to help earthquake victims. The statement stated that Russian specialists have set up a multi-purpose field hospital and have already started receiving patients.

According to reports, more than 30 specialists work in the unit, including surgeons, traumatologists, physicians, pediatricians, neurologists, and sonographers.

Russia and Syria have traditionally cooperated in many areas. “I am confident that this type of interaction will continue and expand,” said Alexey Kuznetsov, Russia’s assistant health minister.

Meanwhile, China has repeatedly called on the United States to end its illegal military occupation of Syria and stop plundering the country’s wealth, stressing that its continued presence has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

“We call on the United States to sincerely respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of other countries and immediately stop its illegal military presence and plunder in Syria,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning during a March 11 press conference.

Mao added, before calling on US officials to lift crushing economic sanctions on Syria.

China was among the first countries to send aid to Syria following last month’s devastating earthquake when aid shipments from the West were disrupted by US sanctions.

The earthquake prompted talks to reintegrate Syria into the regional fold.

Countries like Saudi Arabia, the main instigator of the Syrian war, have expressed the need to end Syria’s international and regional isolation — isolation that Washington continues to encourage despite its impediment to humanitarian aid for the stricken country.

In addition, Tunisian President Kais Saied revealed Syria and Tunisia’s willingness to restore diplomatic relations, which Tunisia severed in 2012 over what Western and Gulf media alleged was the government’s “brutal suppression of protests.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered a televised speech on February 16, in which he highlighted the repercussions of the deadly earthquake and thanked the countries that rushed to help Syria in the aftermath of the disaster.

Assad said that “twelve years of war and siege… gave Syrian society the experience and the ability to act quickly and effectively in the first hours of an earthquake.”

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