SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In a country divided by conflict Yellowknife's Dr. Anne Marie Pegg works tirelessly in an unmarked hospital, treating Syrians suffering from shrapnel wounds, burns and other ailments.
Yellowknife family physician Anne Marie Pegg holds a brand new baby girl that she delivered in an unmarked hospital in Syria on March 9. Pegg has been working in the country since January as part of Doctors Without Borders. - photo courtesy of Doctors Without Borders |
Every day is an uphill battle for Pegg and other medical professionals as they struggle against a broken health-care system, according to Doctors Without Borders spokesperson, Claudia Blume.
"A lot of hospitals aren't working anymore, a lot of doctors and nurses have left the country and a lot of people who are doing medical work in the country aren't even trained doctors," Blume said. "It's also very difficult to transport drugs inside the country at the moment."
Pegg, who works with Doctors Without Borders, was sent to Syria in January.
The Yellowknife family physician has worked with the organization since 2008 and has gone on missions to Ethiopia, Haiti, the Congo and Pakistan.
This year she joined the organization's emergency pool, allowing her to be deployed to areas where there's a natural disaster, a refugee crisis, a medical emergency or a conflict.
Yellowknifer attempted to set up an interview with Pegg but due to constraints within the country it wasn't possible at this time.
Currently, Pegg's job in Syria requires her to treat patients, file reports to Doctors Without Borders and give basic medical training to students and others.
On March 8, Pegg took to Twitter to share her experience with @MSF_canada followers across the world. Pegg's first tweet popped up at 6 a.m.
"I have already been awake for 2.5 hours. Fighting nearby overnight = not much sleep. Coffee, coffee, coffee," she wrote.
Later at 10:45 a.m. she talked about setting up a blood transfusion for a seven-year-old girl with thalassemia, a blood disorder where the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin. Treatment for the disorder, Pegg added, is hard to find right now because of the conflict.
Pegg's last tweet came in at 1:30 a.m. the following day as she happily announced the arrival of a baby girl.
"Mom and baby doing well. Not so bad of a reason to still be awake," she tweeted.
Pegg increasingly helps to deliver babies in Syria, Blume added, as a result of the crumbling health-care system. She also treats a lot of burn victims.
It's been very cold in Syria, Blume explained, and it's been hard to get fuel and heat so citizens have been burning stuff in their homes, resulting in many out of control fires.
Blume said she hopes Pegg's tweets will bring renewed attention to the crisis in Syria.
According to Syrian authorities, 57 per cent of hospitals in the country have been damaged and 36 per cent are no longer functional. Doctors Without Borders has three makeshift hospitals in Syria's north but has been unable to set up in government-controlled areas because authorities have refused to grant authorization, according to a report from Doctors Without Borders titled "Syria two years on the failure of international aid so far."
"A lot more needs to be done," said Blume. "The aid has to be spread more evenly in the country and both the rebel side and government side needs to support doctors and medical facilities."
