Thank you very much, Dr. Al Fakir.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for this opportunity, and thank you to the members of Parliament on this very essential Subcommittee on International Human Rights.
I want to give you some perspective in terms of the current medical crisis in eastern Ghouta. Our organization has been communicating with people on the ground, with the doctors and our medical staff, who unfortunately don't have electricity or connections. They can't communicate with you directly, so we will be speaking on their behalf.
Currently in Ghouta, there are 1,200 cancer cases for which there is no medical treatment. Chemotherapy and many medications do not exist. I heard recently that a 22-year-old gentleman with rectal cancer died because there was no chemotherapy to treat him with, before or after the surgery. There is only one neurosurgeon left for a population of 400,000, despite the ongoing destruction and ongoing air strikes by Russia and the Syrian regime. There is only one neurosurgeon to take care of all the head injuries, with very limited medical supplies available. There are very limited supplies—of anaesthesia drugs, of painkillers, of antibiotics, of sutures—because over the last 14 months, the Syrian regime has not allowed any medical supplies, any kind of essential medical aid, to enter Ghouta. The people just have to work with whatever they had before the last 14 months.
I have to mention that in the last 10 days, in addition to what my colleague mentioned in terms of the total deaths, 50% of the deaths and injuries were to women and children. This is just to confirm that this is a systematic destruction of the city, which is highly populated at 400,000 civilians. There are about 2,300 injuries now, and the number is set to increase. From talking to the people on the ground, we know that they don't even have diesel to operate the hospitals. They are using plastic bags to try to operate the generators for the hospitals.
I want to reiterate what my colleague concluded. One, the physicians, medical staff, and humanitarian aid workers are asking for protection for the hospitals and for the health care workers, which is assured by many resolutions, including UN Resolution 2286. Two, they are asking to evacuate the critically ill patients. There are more than 500 critically ill patients who need emergency surgeries and evacuation from Ghouta to a safe place.
Thank you very much for hearing from us.