17 dialysis patients under death threat in al-Ghouta

The "Unified Medical Office" in Damascus countryside has announced that the lives of 17 patients are at risk as the only kidney dialysis department in eastern Ghouta stopped from working after the department ran out of the necessary medical supplies.

Blood analysis center of Douma city confirmed that the kidney dialysis department was completely out of service after the allocated filters of equipment and materials needed to conduct the sessions finished.

In a statement, the office urged all agencies and international humanitarian organizations to exert their utmost efforts to secure the entry of urgent medical supplies of dialysis medications and ambulances.

In the same context, the supervisor doctor of the center said that the available equipment was not working properly because of the lack of the necessary parts required to continue its functions, noting that the two devices which arrived with the support of the World Health Organization stopped working as a result of an "electronic" malfunction.

The siege of eastern Ghouta began in mid-2012, when Assad regime limited travel in and out of Damascus. The regime cut the supply of electricity that November, followed by the cutoff of water and wire and cell communications. In March 2013, it began limiting what could move into and out of the area, and later it banned the import and export of food and medical supplies.