Scottish Catholic Observer

To date, the centre has provided free medical treatment for more than 1300 Syrian refugees.

The first stages demanded immediate and emergency care for the many hundreds of families arriving each day. The socio-medical centre looked after them, giving food, clothing, medicines and shelter. Today, the flow of refugees has not stemmed and they continue to arrive, exhausted, fearful, with nothing but what they stand up in.

The health crisis does not go away.

“There are many diseases, and a high risk of epidemics breaking out among the refugees,” Miladia Hamati Aoun, a nurse at the Khaldieh clinic who cares for the Syrian patients, said.

As the number of refugees continues to grow, the order’s support has widened and now includes sending out health professionals to refugees in the villages of Zgharta and Kfarzayn. The teams are conducting health awareness sessions, educating the refugees on key issues such as personal hygiene, maternal care and the importance of vaccination. They are also providing health care and hygiene kits, blankets and mattresses. This new programme of home visits to the impoverished shelters is currently caring for 400 families.

“When I make these home visits, I see such misery,” Rouba Azize, a social worker at the Khaldieh clinic and one of the coordinators of the emergency relief efforts for the refugees, said. “People are living in basements, sleeping on cardboard on the floor. The hygienic conditions are horrendous and a threat to public health.”

One of those visits takes Ms Azize to a 200-square-metre basement in the Zgharta region, near the Khaldieh clinic. There, around 100 people are living

in small divisions in a dark, damp room. “Many of the children here have skin infections; and rubella is going around,” she said.

The clinic has conducted a three-day vaccination campaign for dozens of refugee children and teenagers, helping to protect them and their families from diseases such as polio and rubella. The children also received vitamin A supplements as a prevention measure.

Back in Khaldieh, Miladia Aoun added: “The refugees I help are very grateful. They often tell me, ‘May God protect you, your family and your home’—this blessing has a very special meaning, when you know the horrible things they’ve seen and experienced. They’ve lost their homes and family members.”

The Order of Malta, which has projects in 120 countries, 13,500 members, 80,000 permanent trained volunteers, 25,000 medical and para-medical personnel, has been active in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon since August 2012, providing emergency aid for more than 30,000 people.

—For more information, visit: http://www.orderofmalta.int or http://www.orderofmalta.org.ukhttp://www.orderofmalta.int or http://www.orderofmalta.org.uk