Fayez Abu Eid – Action Group
Palestinian refugees in Syria live under exceptional and challenging circumstances, suffering from a severe shortage of medical services, which have become a basic necessity for life. UNRWA health centers, which represent the first line of defense for refugees’ health, face numerous difficulties that hinder their ability to provide adequate medical care.
Prominent among these challenges is the difficulty of accessing essential medicines, a vital component of refugees’ lives. Economic challenges also deepen their suffering. Despite increasing estimates of Palestinian refugees’ need for essential medicines, health centers still lack these resources.
In Jaramana camp, Palestinian refugees complain of significant difficulties in obtaining appropriate medications. There are many heartbreaking stories that tell the story of those forced to leave their homes due to the traumatic events in Syria.
A Palestinian refugee woman, displaced from Yarmouk Camp to Jaramana in 2011, recounts her experience with the lack of medication. She regularly visits the local Al-Kabri clinic, but is often confronted with the lack of essential medications. She suffers from high blood pressure and is unable to find medication to regulate it at the clinic. Instead, she is forced to obtain simple medications, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, which are ineffective for her condition, exacerbating her health suffering.
In addition to her health problems, the woman’s husband, who suffers from heart disease and diabetes, used to rely on the medications distributed at the clinic. However, after the necessary medications disappeared, he was forced to purchase them from private pharmacies at high prices. “I cannot bear these financial burdens, and the prices of medications on the market have become beyond our means. The economic situation in Syria is not helping us,” the husband says in a tone of despair.
The husband spoke of his repeated attempts to obtain assistance by submitting a “most needy” request. However, this request was rejected despite meeting the required criteria, including the type of illness and his advanced age. “I submitted several requests, but to no avail. I did not receive any assistance, and the response was always negative. I also encountered poor treatment from the staff,” the husband added with regret. He also addressed his struggles in dealing with administrative procedures, pointing to what he described as “favoritism” in the distribution of medications.
It is not unusual for Palestinian refugees to struggle with accessing healthcare, but the problem is not limited to the shortage of medications alone. It also includes social obstacles related to favoritism in the distribution of medications.
One man displaced from Yarmouk camp said, “There are negative practices by some health workers. Some rely on tribal connections to dispense medications to their relatives, which creates a sense of injustice, while others suffer from not receiving the necessary treatment.”
The suffering of these Palestinian refugees is exacerbated by the harsh economic conditions they live in, which significantly impacts their psychological state. The lack of healthcare and inability to obtain necessary medications adds a double psychological burden to refugees, who suffer from constant anxiety and fear of the future. These psychological pressures exacerbate depression, making it essential to provide additional psychological support to this group, who find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of suffering.
Ultimately, Palestinian refugees in Syria continue to suffer in silence, awaiting solutions that might alleviate their suffering and allow them access to the basic healthcare they deserve.
As this reality persists, calls continue from humanitarian organizations and the international community to improve the conditions of Palestinian refugees and provide them with the necessary medical support under these difficult circumstances.