Syria: MSF opens emergency room in Daraya

After 14 years of war, Syria has been left with large-scale destruction, massive displacement, economic hardship and a lack of basic services, including healthcare. In response, international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has started planning how best to meet people’s needs in areas where its teams were unable to work previously, including major cities and under-served rural regions where people’s humanitarian needs are significant and often overlooked. This includes Daraya, southwest of Damascus, where MSF has set up an emergency room and supports a primary healthcare centre.

“Almost everywhere our teams have visited, the scars of war are evident – entire neighbourhoods destroyed, with little effort put into reconstruction and minimal investment in restoring basic services,” says MSF project coordinator for Damascus, Mostafa Khatab. “Daraya, a suburb in the outskirts of the city, stood out in particular. Large-scale destruction, entire areas flattened – yet, people are coming back, determined to rebuild their lives.”

After the government of Bashar Al-Assad collapsed in December 2024, thousands of people have returned to their homes, but they face massive challenges, says Khatab, including land contaminated from leftover weapons and explosives, job shortages, economic struggles, and a lack of access to clean water and healthcare services.

“Daraya’s hospital, for example, was heavily damaged, and restoring it would require significant investment – something unlikely to happen in the near future. This means that the only real option for emergency and secondary medical care is in Damascus city centre, where services are already under significant strain. The only functioning health centre in Daraya operates at a very limited capacity, offering just vaccinations, malnutrition treatment and basic medications for chronic diseases.”

In response, MSF started running activities in Daraya in March in partnership with the Directorate of Health. After renovating the health centre, the team is providing basic healthcare, including outpatient consultations, mental healthcare and sexual and reproductive healthcare, led by a doctor and a midwife. MSF and the Directorate of Health have also opened a 24/7 emergency room to provide urgent basic care for people with trauma injuries, and have established a referral system to hospitals in Damascus for patients needing more specialist care. All MSF’s services are free of charge.

Consultation numbers at the health centre have increased steadily with over 1000 patients treated in the outpatient services since MSF started supporting in March. More and more patients are coming for sexual and reproductive healthcare – services which were previously very limited in Daraya.

At the emergency room, the medical team has provided 308 consultations and referred 24 patients for specialist care in just two weeks.

“The opening of Daraya emergency room clearly marks a decisive turning point in access to healthcare for the people of Daraya,” says MSF medical referent Jethro Guerina. “I witnessed one father shedding tears of relief after his 10-year-old son received six stitches in the head following an accident at home after the medical team told him he didn't have to pay money for treatment,” Guerina recalls. “He told me: ‘I have no memory of ever not having to pay for treatment.’”