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Doctors Syndicate’s announcement represents an unusual challenge for a country known for its strict control over information and intolerance of alternative points of view.
Statistics from the Syrian Medical Association indicated that reported cases among medical workers often indicated a much higher number of unreported cases among the general public.
A Syrian medical student described the death toll as “terrifying”.
Since mid-August, the official number of all coronavirus infections has risen dramatically with 3,800 reported cases and nearly 180 deaths.
Syrians suspect the numbers are higher.
“Patients die, but to judge the cause of death is the Corona virus, it is necessary to conduct a survey,” a student told the Washington Post, without revealing his identity.
The Health Ministry relies on the infection lists it announces on positive tests for the Corona virus, but there are only six testing centers in government-controlled Syria, according to the ministry.
The situation in Syria has gotten out of control and, in the absence of proper tests, doctors are trying to diagnose cases based on chest X-rays and other symptoms, and send patients home to be quarantined and cared for, according to medical students and relatives of the patients.
A resident doctor, in the first year at a hospital in Greater Damascus, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said that only severe cases of the Corona virus are accepted and that many patients with symptoms of the Corona virus are excluded.
About two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch criticized the Syrian authorities for failing to provide the necessary protection to medical personnel working on the front lines against the emerging Corona virus, in a country that is primarily witnessing a weakness in the health system due to years of war.
Last month, the organization documented many deaths among medical personnel, who showed symptoms of Covid-19 and were not tested for the virus.
“It is staggering that as the obituaries of doctors and nursing staff coping with the coronavirus pile up, the official figures contradict the reality on the ground,” Syrian organization researcher Sarah Al-Kayyali said in a statement.
The organization also reported that it has evidence indicating that the figures throughout the country may be much higher than those declared by the authority.
He said that in the middle of last month he was able to document the deaths of 33 doctors, whose names were mentioned in lists that circulated on social media, while the official death count remained stable at 64 cases across the country.
Human Rights Watch warned that “the lack of adequate preventive equipment and the limited capacity to use oxygen cylinders are likely to contribute to the deaths of health workers and the general population in Syria.”
And he believed that the World Health Organization “should publicly insist on expanding the capabilities of a transparent and accurate examination and reporting on the number of injuries.”
The organization quoted nurses and doctors as saying that government hospitals ready to treat Covid-19 cases have exceeded their capacity, while other hospitals lack the necessary infrastructure.
They attributed this to the unavailability of oxygen cylinders, fans and beds.
