A Fifth PRCS Martyr in Al Yarmouk Camp

PRCS President Dr. Younes Al Khatib announced the death of Diyab Hussein Mouhanna, an employee at PRCS Palestine Hospital in Al Yarmouk Refugee Camp. Mouhanna was shot and killed last Tuesday (March 12th, 2014) as he was leaving the hospital to provide humanitarian assistance to fellow Palestinian refugees besieged in the camp. He had joined PRCS more than 26 years ago and worked at the hospital’s pharmacy. He is survived by his wife and four children.

“Since the beginning of theseterrible events in Syria three years ago, PRCS has lost five staff members in the line of duty. Many others were wounded while tending to the injured and evacuating civilians from the camp’s hot spots. PRCS in Al Yarmouk is living a real disaster in every sense of the word. Palestine hospital has run out of fuel; its equipment and lights are no longer working. Moreover, its vehicles and medicine warehouses have been robbed”, Al Khatib said.

Concerning cases tended to by PRCS in Al Yarmoukcamp in general and Palestine hospital in particular, he added: “PRCS hospitals and centers in Al Yarmouk camp as well as in Damascus and Homs have received hundreds of patients suffering from famine, malnutrition, anemia, dehydration, miscarriages and skin diseases, especially mange,due to the scarcity of water. Many social tragedies have also taken place due to the displacement of large populations”.

PRCS operates 3 hospitals in Syria. One in Al Yarmouk camp, another in Al Mazzeh near Damascus and a third in Homs. It also runs many other clinics and social centers, as well as a prosthesis factory.

According to Al Khatib, PRCS has not only provided medical assistance to Palestinian and Syrian victims in Syria, but has also provided such assistance to displaced Palestinian and Syrian refugees in five PRCS hospitals in Lebanon. This has placed an additional burden on the Society, increasing its need for medicine and medical equipment.

PRCS has issued an Appeal on the 15th of January 2014 which targeted Palestinian individuals and institutions, urging them to donate medicine, medical supplies, equipment and money to PRCS to help it face the humanitarian consequences of the tragic situation in Syria.