Posted on Jun 4, 2019
As Bombs Fall, A Neurosurgeon Tells How He Keeps Calm In Syria
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"Sorry for late reply. We've been under nonstop air strikes today, and I've been with emergency patients all day."
I received that Skype message in response to a request to interview 32-year-old neurosurgeon Omar Ibrahim, originally from Egypt but based for the past five years in Syria and the last two in Idlib, the northwest province that has been experiencing heavy bombardment by government forces and their allies since late April. According to reports from doctors on the ground in Syria and provided by Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations-USA, in that time 19 hospitals and medical clinics have been damaged or destroyed, further straining the area's already impaired health care network. NPR spoke to Ibrahim via Skype on May 31 during a break in his schedule. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and space.
I received that Skype message in response to a request to interview 32-year-old neurosurgeon Omar Ibrahim, originally from Egypt but based for the past five years in Syria and the last two in Idlib, the northwest province that has been experiencing heavy bombardment by government forces and their allies since late April. According to reports from doctors on the ground in Syria and provided by Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations-USA, in that time 19 hospitals and medical clinics have been damaged or destroyed, further straining the area's already impaired health care network. NPR spoke to Ibrahim via Skype on May 31 during a break in his schedule. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and space.
As Bombs Fall, A Neurosurgeon Tells How He Keeps Calm In Syria
Posted from npr.org
Syria
Surgery
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
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I spent one of my tours in Iraq in the main thrust of the surge in 2007. Rocket and mortar attacks were daily occurrences and I became numb to the incoming alarms. Most of the time, nothing happened and then there were the few times it did. You learned to live with the fact that they could happen at any time and you went about your day. The part that is really bad with this article is that hospitals are no longer off limits it seems.
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This has ever been the situation in war. Somehow the hospitals end up on the front lines.
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