Look Who it Was Random video

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 3

355 views · Published 8 February 2012 · 3:15 · Indexed 30 September 2026

Channel: Doctors Without Borders / MSF-USA · 2012 · Nonprofits & Activism

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Testimonies from injured people and doctors from across Syria were collected by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff between January 30 and February 6, 2012. MSF is not authorized to operate inside Syria at present and thus is unable to fully verify the information collected here. However, given the recurring nature, consistency, and severity of the acts described in these testimonies, MSF has decided to make them public. For security reasons, names and locations have been withheld. Read more - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=5755&cat=press-release
TRANSCRIPT:
"We were a group of men from the same 
neighborhood who went on a demonstration.
At first we were asking for administrative reforms,
but with the rise of violence,
we began demanding
the end of the regime and for our freedom.
We were used to being fired at.
But the night I was injured,
we were not expecting
the Syrian army and security forces 
to ambush the demonstrators.
They launched the attack at midnight.
We didn't have time to hide or run away.
Two of us were injured and three were killed.
One of them was a father.
I was shot in my left thigh.
My bone was completely shattered.
I fainted while I was being carried away.
I lost a lot of blood.
We fled from house to house 
until we arrived at my home, the safest place.
My injury was getting worse
but all I could think about was staying alive.
We tried to find someone
who could treat us until 4 a.m.
The other man's injuries were worse than mine,
he had been shot in the hand and in his bottom.
Unfortunately all the doctors had been 
arrested for treating  injured patients
and they had been forced to sign a document
saying they would only treat certain cases,
the ones the government would allow.
So injured people had to wait for
authorization before receiving treatment.
They could die a thousand times
waiting for this authorization.
And we hadn't even managed to find a nurse.
Eventually we found one
and he took care of me despite the danger.
I am so grateful to him.
After he treated me,
I was carried to another house.
So I was treated by a nurse
and with very basic medical supplies.
He just had needles and thread,
scissors and a small box.
I begged for anesthesia
but it simply wasn't possible.
So I was treated by a nurse
and with very basic medical supplies.
He just had needles and thread,
scissors and a small kit.
I begged for anesthesia
but it simply wasn't possible.
When he put his fingers in my thigh 
to extract the bullet,
he hit the bone and I cried out in pain.
I wanted to be anesthetized but it wasn't possible,
so I had to endure the pain."

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