The Syrian civil defense and SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) issued a joint statement on the chemical massacre committed by the regime forces in the city of Douma in Damascus eastern Ghouta.
The statement says: "Following a peace truce that only lasted for a couple of day, the city of Douma was again under heavy shelling that resulted in tens of casualties and hundreds of injuries. The attacks included the systematic targeting of medical centers and civil defense teams, heavily paralyzing the medical capacity of the city due to destruction of the majority of the civil defense centers and a large number of ambulances and rescue vehicles, leaving them completely out of service."
The statement added: "On Saturday,07/04/2018 7:45 pm and with continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of Douma, more than 500 cases -the majority of whom are women and children- have reached the medical centers with symptoms of exposure to chemicals. Cases have shown signs of respiratory distress, central cyanosis, excessive oral foaming, corneal burns, and the emission of chlorine-like odor, in addition to wheezing and coarse bronchial rales.
It signalled that patients were treated with humidified free oxygen and bronchodilators after which most have improved. In several cases, where the exposure to chemicals was in a larger scale, patients, including 4 children, were put on ventilators.
The statement continues: "Civil defense have reported 42 casualties with similar clinical symptoms of cyanosis, excessive oral foaming and corneal burns, who were dead in their homes and sheltes, but civil defense teams were unable to evacuate the bodies due to the intensity of the odor and the lack of PPE.
Finally, the Syrian Civil Defense Organization and the Syrian American Medical Society demanded immediate cease-fire in the city of Douma and the entry of international investigation teams from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)to investigate the facts of the crime. The organizations also called for the immediate intervention of the International Community to prohibit the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and stop the tragedy of Ghouta and the city of Douma, so as to insure the protection of personnel and humanitarian facilities to enable them to continue their life-saving work.
