Monitoring Desk
ALEPPO: World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on Saturday in Syria’s quake-hit city of Aleppo, state media reported.
Tedros Adhanom “arrived at Aleppo airport to visit some hospitals and shelters with the governor of Aleppo and Syrian health minister,” the official news agency SANA said.
The WHO chief’s visit came five days after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Türkiye and Syria, killing over 24,000 people, including at least 3,553 in war-torn Syria alone.
Upon his arrival, the WHO chief said he was accompanying “emergency medical supplies of about 37 metric tonnes”.
“We are pleased that we could come with the emergency supplies,” he told reporters at Aleppo airport.
“This is the first emergency supply we are sending.”
Tedros added that the WHO would continue to offer emergency medical services and bring in further emergency supplies necessary for “trauma management.”
“Tomorrow, there will be another round with over 30 metric tonnes,” he said.
He expressed grave concern over the after-effects of the quake, especially the disruption of emergency services.
“People are exposed to diseases and other health problems, particularly mental health problems,” Tedros said.
“We will work together to address the earthquake impact, not only the emergency supplies during the earthquake.”
Syria’s Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash welcomed the WHO chief at the airport, saying his visit was “of great importance in several aspects.”
WHO chief will ground reality after earthquake
“He will first see the ground reality and what this earthquake disaster caused,” he said.
“We hope that Tedros sees the reality of hospitals and what they lack,” the minister added, calling on the WHO to help provide medical equipment which is lacking.
Since Monday’s earthquake, volunteers and rescuers have been scrambling with little means to find survivors under the debris of collapsed buildings.
The United Nations says the quake disaster may have left up to 5.3 million people homeless in Syria.
Earthquake survivors have flocked to camps set up for people displaced by around 12 years of war from other parts of Syria. Many people lost their homes or are too scared to return to damaged buildings.
