Syria: Hospitals hit repeatedly by Russian and Syrian airstrikes, condemning hundreds of wounded to certain death

Out of only eight hospitals still functioning in east Aleppo, four hospitals and a blood bank were damaged by bombing in four days, one of them twice.

On 30 September, two hospitals in east Aleppo supported by MSF, amongst others, were damaged by continuous indiscriminate bombing.

A blood bank was also damaged. Despite the damage, medical teams at the three facilities managed to continue their work.

On 1 October, a major trauma hospital was so severely damaged by bombing that it was forced to close. Two days later, as construction teams worked to repair the damage, the area was bombed again, killing a number of people and further damaging the hospital.  

On 2 October, a surgical hospital was damaged by bombing, but remained open.

“The few remaining hospitals are collapsing under a flow of hundreds of wounded lying in agony on the floors of wards and corridors,” says Pablo Marco, MSF’s operations manager in the Middle East.

“Doctors are performing brain and abdominal surgeries to the victims of bombing in the floors of the emergency rooms, for lack of available operation theatres. Russia and Syria must stop this carnage now.”

MSF supports eight hospitals in Aleppo city. It runs six medical facilities across northern Syria and supports more than 150 health centres and hospitals across the country, many of them in besieged areas.

Find out more about MSF's work in Syria.