Equipment and spaces were handed over by the NGO Un Ponte Per (Upp) to the management of the Local Health Committee

ROME, 28 September 2022 - Eighty fully-equipped beds for girls and boys on two floors and a radiology department: equipment and spaces available to patients at the Al Hilal children's hospital in Raqqa, in the Kurdish-majority north-east of Syria, have just been handed over by the NGO Un Ponte Per (Upp) to the management of the Local Health Committee. The facility had been completely destroyed by militiamen of the Islamic State group.

The handover took place as part of the health intervention programme called Darna ('Our Home'), which was realised thanks to the support of the Italian Cooperation and implemented as of 2018 by Upp together with its long-standing local partner, the Kurdish Red Crescent (Krc).

The actions carried out with "Darna" made it possible, in a first phase, to create a maternal and child ward from the rubble and later to set up three "safe spaces" outside the hospital, dedicated to women, adolescents and minors who had survived or were at risk of gender-based violence.

A further stage of the project began in June 2021, which focused on rehabilitation and the construction of a paediatric ward, while continuing to ensure continuity in maternal and midwifery care. The context of this stage of the initiative is the spread of Covid-19, the cause of increased levels of poverty and unemployment, psycho-social distress, domestic violence and serious risks to children's growth. Also weighing heavily are the medium- and long-term consequences of the civil conflict that has flared up in Syria since 2011, which has left 13.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

The work, carried out by Upp and the Kurdish Red Crescent, ended this month as planned.

The hospital, which is equipped and specialised in paediatric surgery, thus comes under the management and responsibility of the local Health Committee.

In addition to the beds and the radiology department, there will be 30 incubators, a nursery with ten cots, paediatric analysis laboratories, two paediatric medical surgeries and an ambulance and first aid service available to the population.

(DIRE news agency)