Kobani refugees in dire condition: Doctors of the World

The international organization Doctors of the World has warned about the dire humanitarian situation of the Kurdish refugees who have fled to Turkey amid clashes between Kurdish forces and the ISIL militants in the Syrian town of Kobani, Press TV reports.

The warning was issued by members of the Greek branch of the humanitarian non-profit organization during a press conference in the capital Athens.

In October, the group members visited Suruç, a rural district near Kobani on the Turkish side of the border, in an attempt to investigate the situation and identify the needs of refugees in the Kurdish town.

“190, 000 Kurdish refugees arrived in Suruç which has a population of 90,000. From this desperate refugees, 100,000 dispersed in the wider region and some 90,000 stayed in Suruç … From those refugees, between 20,000 and 25,000 are staying in cold tents and rest in derelict homes. Thirty four thousand of these displaced people are children below the age of 15,” said Dr. Ioannis Mouzalas, a long-time member of the organization, which provides emergency and medical care to vulnerable populations.

The doctors said that there are no ambulances in the strategic Syrian town because the ISIL Takfiri terrorists repeatedly open fire there. The wounded Kurdish fighters are taken to the border on foot where ambulances transport them to Suruç hospitals.

They also pointed to likelihood of epidemics in refugee camps in Turkey due to the inadequate conditions for observing personal hygiene.

“This applies to all places with a significant concentration of people. In this case, however, there are many children who are not fully vaccinated because of the war, which could cause such a crisis,” said the president of the Greek branch of the organization, Anna Maili.

Mouzalas further noted that the Kurdish refugees are in need of immediate supplies of items, including children’s clothing and blankets as they lack sufficient medical resources while a rough winter is drawing near.

Doctors of the World in Greece has launched a campaign to collect specific items and food and hopes it can send them to Suruç by truck by the end of November.

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages and killing hundreds of people.