Covid-19 in Syria: Marwan’s message from the frontline of the pandemic response
My name is Marwan Durra, I’m a high school graduate and I’m planning on continuing my education. Right now, I am a volunteer with Violet Organisation. Here’s my story from Idlib, as we try to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic.
My work with Violet Organisation involves transporting patients, which means I am in direct contact with people who have been diagnosed with Coronavirus. I also help with coordination. I receive word about Covid-19 patients - some that need to be transferred from a hospital to an isolation centre or some patients in isolation centres who need to get to the hospital as they have deteriorated. I obtain all of the necessary information and send it out to the team.
The idea behind the isolation centres is to assist the hospitals and reduce the pressure on them. In each isolation centre there is an on-call doctor, nurses, and infection control officers. The centres’ main purpose is to receive the mild and non-critical cases of Covid-19; for example, a patient with non-dangerously low oxygen levels, or a patient with fatigue. By providing care for these cases, the hospitals can be dedicated to the critical ones that need ventilators or intensive care. One of the other roles these centre play is providing a place for Covid-19 patients to isolate themselves at these centres if they can’t isolate themselves at home for whatever reason.
On one very difficult day, we received word about a patient showing symptoms of Covid-19. He needed a swab test and then to be admitted to an isolation centre, so after coordinating with Violet’s isolation centre and communicating all of the information, we transferred the patient there. After a couple of days the results came in confirming he has Covid-19. He started to deteriorate quickly, which left him in need for a ventilator and better care. We needed to transfer him to a hospital. Usually, we don’t transfer patients without coordinating, but this time we had to make an exception. The situation was urgent. During that period of time hospitals were full of patients, so started wandering with the patient from one hospital to another, hoping that one would be able to take him. Because there were no empty beds in any hospital, we had to keep moving the patient in the ambulance for about two hours until one hospital made ends meet and accepted him. This situation caused the patient’s health to deteriorate.
At one point during the Covid-19 crisis the daily infected cases were around 500, and if only half of that number needed hospital care, the hospitals would get completely swamped and become unable to provide care for any more people. So many loved ones - so many elderly people - have been lost due to the lack of available ventilators. This is a huge difference between us and other countries, where the medical capacity is a lot higher.
In general, the aid that was provided for northern parts of Syria to fight Covid-19 haven’t covered the needs. Not only that but some countries have already been able to acquire the vaccine that has a 98% success rate. We know that it is going to take a long time to reach us.
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The situation in Syria is shocking. Lack of medical care, equipment and space is creating an almost impossible task for the responders on the pandemic frontline.
Please follow our friends at Violet Organisation, read about the life-saving work they do and make a donation if you can.
Violet Team - you have our support, always.
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