BARCELONA/NEW YORK, MAY 27, 2016 — Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is evacuating most of its staff and patients from Al Salamah hospital in northern Syria after an Islamic State offensive in Azaz, in Aleppo governorate, approached the area.
“We are terribly concerned about the fate of our hospital and our patients, and about the estimated 100,000 people trapped between the Turkish border and active front lines,” said Pablo Marco, MSF operations manager for the Middle East. “For some months, the front line has been around seven kilometers away from the hospital. Now it is only three kilometers from Al Salamah town. There is nowhere for people to flee to as the fighting gets closer.”
Al Salamah Hospital is the largest of six medical facilities run by MSF in Syria. Its services include an operating theater, emergency room, pediatric care, in- and outpatient departments, and maternal care.
In addition, MSF provides support to more than 150 Syrian medical facilities, with a particular focus on besieged areas.
