Some doctors in Hay El-Ramel have testified about the general sanitary conditions and the suffering of the injured and paramedics in the neighborhood at which 20 people were shot dead by security forces last Sunday.
On Friday, June 6, a peaceful demonstration in the neighborhood was met with heavy gunfire causing the death and injury of many. According to one doctor, most injuries looked different to previous ones, due to the usage of exploding bullets.
“We treated around 40 injured people; the number is higher as others were treated at home fearing security forces raids on hospitals. Most injuries are in the upper part of the body, those who were shot in the head passed away as shots caused the skull to be broken and damaged the brain.”
“Most injuries were caused by exploding bullets in the head or arms, such shots are either fatal or causes disabilities. An exploding bullet leaves behind a small entering hole and a big exit one. Some were injured in the back or chest due to shrapnel of assault grenades.”
“One injury in the humerus by an exploding bullet, which left behind a 5 cm hole, caused damage to the muscle of the upper arm and cuts in its veins, arteries and tendons. We replaced the damaged muscle with an alternative stuffing then sent him to a private hospital were his veins and tendons were fixed. He is stable now. Another person was shot twice in the chest, he received a first aid then transferred to a private hospital were he underwent an operation. He is stable now as well.”
None of the wounded dares to go to the national hospital, for those who do go there are either arrested or left to die. The rescue is being carried out in private clinics within the available means.
According to a doctor who has been aiding the injured, “The martyr Abdullah Ali Shaabo was injured in the right iliac with a gunshot which had penetrated through the bladder to rest in the buttock. He suffered heavy bleeding. We provided him with the needed blood and recovery care, as well as first aid using pressure dressing. He was unconscious and we woke him up, then he said his name clearly, which meant that he had survived hemorrhagic shock and was then ready for surgery in order to connect arteries and extract the bullet, so that he would be admitted into ICU afterwards, in which case he would have had a chance to survive within the following 24 hours. We then handed him to his family who accompanied him to the national hospital, only to be informed one hour after he arrived there that he had passed away.”
“Also the child Bassel Al-Turk, 15, who was wounded by a gunshot 2cm below the nipple, which had penetrated his right lung into his back. We provided him with the needed first aid and he was in a stable condition when his family took him in a private car, in an attempt to reach a private hospital. However, the security checkpoint in area of Masbah Al-Shaab stopped them for about half an hour, and then forced them to head for the national hospital. Bassel passed away later on in the hospital. This Friday, we received a young man wounded with 2 bullets in the lung, Bassel’s same injury, and we gave him the needed first aid and then he went to a private hospital and survived.”
On another hand, doctors say that there is no ambulance in Raml, and that the neighborhood committee has repeatedly demanded an ambulance recently, but their requests were denied for the authorities’ claims that “the ambulance could be used by the infiltrators”.
The doctors providing first aid to the wounded are not safe from oppression and abuse, as many of them have been arrested for aiding the wounded, and some of them are still detained to this moment. Among the detained doctors right now are Mohammad Sheikh Ibrahim, Mohammad Ayrout and Ahmad Rabah Shaker, who were arrested about 40 days ago.
video prove the use of exploding bullets
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The witnessed was interviewed by phone –Information Office of the Local Coordination Committees of Syria
This post is also available in: Arabic