Aleppo Face 'Bleak Moment': Hospital's Medical Supplies Rapidly Depleting with Syria Aid Convoy Blocked

Nov 18, 2016 10:30 AM EST

With hospitals in Aleppo, Syria now caught in crossfires, people are desperate for medicine and supplies for the increasing number of casualties being brought for care. Doctors say that hospitals will be out of supply in a month if no new contingencies are brought in.

Supplies have stopped arriving since August of this year when the civil war intensified, and hospitals are in desperate need of help with thousands of people currently under care. Doctors say more patients are expected to arrive as the war's end is nowhere in sight.

Doctors say the most affected are children and infants who are now suffering from extreme malnutrition. Formula milk has now run dry, and mothers are unable to supply milk because they, too, are malnourished. There are no more vitamin and mineral supplements in stock.

Medical staffs are now asking for help for food and medical supplies to be airdropped before hospitals are completely run down.

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Children collect firewood amid damage and debris at a site hit yesterday by airstrikes in the rebel held al-Shaar neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

With the onset of winter, medical staff now fear for the complete shutdown of the healthcare system, and this is why they are asking for immediate help.

Many people are now living on just one meal a day on strict rations, as determined by the local council. Hospitals are also bombed down and now, only five remain to care for thousands of victims.

Doctors and medical staff are also getting weaker, with 24/7 rounds in the hospital and having only a small portion of rice and lentils once a day. Even coffee, which has been keeping the staff going, is now nearly out of supply.

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Damaged aid trucks are pictured after an airstrike on the rebel held Urm al-Kubra town, western Aleppo city, Syria September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

Early this year, hospitals in the rebel-seized east Aleppo have started hoarding on food and medical supplies anticipating the worst. With the unexpected increase in casualties and the aggravating civil war, these supplies, hidden underground, are now dwindling and not enough to sustain communities.

The on-going war is so grim that a doctor says, following a recent air strike, relatives of the victims would pick up pieces of human remains that they believe to be that of their relative. The doctor, who wishes to remain anonymous, added that he heard one say, "This is my husband's leg," then another says, "That is my son's arm."

Medic Mohammed Abu Rajab says that it's now more difficult to find hope in the ever-intensifying war that people from outside Syria can see everything that's been happening, and they will also see Syria eventually torn down to pieces.