MSF: Over 100 patients of war-wounded treated in west Mosul in 2 weeks

In less than two weeks, the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has treated over 100 patients for war-related injuries, including more than 25 children and 20 women due to extreme levels of conflict and violence in the besieged city of Mosul – including airstrikes, bombardment, suicide attacks and gunshots – are taking a devastating toll on residents of the embattled Old City.

Patients were arriving with a variety of injuries, including shrapnel wounds, gunshots, burns and broken bones, MSF said.

The organization said cases handled by the hospital, which officially opened on June 23rd.

“Every day, our teams are treating patients from the Old City, many of whom are women and children,” says Stephanie Remion, MSF emergency coordinator for West Mosul.

“Despite the tremendous efforts undertaken by staff in front line trauma stabilisation points and by ambulance drivers, the numbers of patients we are receiving are comparatively low relative to the unknown thousands of residents thought to be trapped in the conflict zone. Our greatest fear is that many of the most urgent cases are dying on the battlefield, unable to access life-saving medical assistance.”

Life has become an everyday struggle for survival for the unknown thousands of residents still trapped in the Old City, according to patient testimonies received by MSF.

“My granddaughter died of starvation and I also had to put my grandson in the grave. Two of them; one starved to death and the other was hit by a mortar. I put them in a grave together… I buried them in the garden,” an elderly woman told MSF after arriving to the hospital. “We have gone three days without water. The water we drank [in the Old City] was not good, we had diarrhea whenever we drank it … the sounds of explosions were terrifying and we were starving.”

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