The Haematology and Oncology Centre in Idlib Central Hospital, supported by the Syrian American Medical Society, is the only centre in Idlib providing free treatment for cancer patients.
The centre is overworked; it turns nobody away and struggles to treat them in spite of an acute shortage of chemotherapy drugs, some of which are entirely unavailable in the centre’s pharmacy,and a lack of radiotherapy facilities.
For some drugs that it does not have, the Centre has to ask patients to procure them externally so they can administer them.
The burden on the centre has increased since Turkish authorities closed the borders after the earthquake, leaving some of these patients on the Syrian side with nowhere else to turn.
“Before the earthquake, our centre received about 2,000 patients a month, and about 500 doses were administered a month. But after the earthquake, more than 50 patients returned from Turkey and received doses in our centre,” said Dr Ayham Jamo, head of haematology and oncology at Idlib Central Hospital.
Turkish authorities have yet to announce the date for reopening the borders for all patients to receive treatment in Turkish hospitals, prolonging patients’ anxiety.
