One of the other groups that SCM works with is the Syrian Medical Association – here is a recent letter from them talking about the use of chemical weapons that are being used. Please read and help if you can my making a donation for the equipment that is needed to help the doctors take care of these patients:
The news has been terrifying.
Chemical weapons have been used on the Syrian population. Not once. Not twice.
But seven times.
Syrian doctors are in danger. Already, seven medical personnel treating chemical attack victims began to exhibit symptoms themselves, and one nurse had to be defibrillated after her heart stopped. These physicians need specialized protective equipment to allow them to stay safe when treating victims of chemical attacks.
While governments squabble over what to do, how much longer will we leave Syrian doctors unprotected?
We need your help to sponsor and send protective gear that will protect Syrian physicians from exposure.
Protecting physicians
SAMS doctors have been working behind the scenes to help collect and provide physical evidence of the attacks for testing, provide personal protective gear and large quantities of antidotes for nerve gas, and train physicians to recognize the signs and symptoms of a chemical agent.
After the first attack on Homs on December 23, 2012, SAMS was the first organization to release a detailed statement and call for the protection of civilians and healthcare professionals from chemical warfare.
When the second attack occurred in Khan Alasal neighborhood in Aleppo on March 19, 2013, SAMS arranged for biological samples to be taken from the victims who were killed in the attacks for testing, and since has collected and transferred samples from attacks #5 (Sheikh Maqsood, April 13) and #7 (Sarakeb, April 28).
And SAMS didn’t stop there.
We provided hospitals in Aleppo, Idlib and Damascus with Atropine injections, the antidote to nerve gas – an antidote that the physicians in Ifrin Hospital used after the fifth attack, Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo on April 13, were able to use it to treat victims of the attack.
Earlier this week, we collaborated with Physicians for Human Rights to rush training materials on chemical weapons protection and identification to physicians from inside Syria, and with the Arab Medical Union to train doctors in Aleppo Hama, Idlib, Deir Ezzor, and Ar-Raqqah.
We’ve raised awareness in the media such as appearances on CNN and an interview with Voice of America, and hand-delivered evidence to the U.S. State Department. And we have provided personal protective gear to physicians in Aleppo and Damascus.
But it’s not enough. We need your help.
While hospital staff are working to prepare themselves for future attacks, we have not reached many of the medical personnel in need.
Don’t leave physicians and first responders unprepared.
Donate now to sponsor emergency protective gear: a protective suit ($20), a full or partial face mask with filter ($150), a decontamination tent ($2000), or an auto-injector of atropine ($40). The scale of this emergency is enormous: to help only 1000 medical personnel affected by chemical attacks in Syria, we need to raise over $200,000.
Will you help give Syrian physicians the tools they need to protect themselves?
PLEASE MAKE A DONATION WWW.SALAAMCULTURALMUSEUM.ORG AND CLICK ON THE DONOR BUTTON. WRITE THAT THIS IS FOR THE PHYSICIANS (sams)
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