SAHNAYA, Syria (Reuters) — The World Health Organization (WHO) delivered urgently needed medicines to the besieged Syrian city of Mouadamiya on Wednesday (March 2), a spokesperson said.
Mouadamiya, on the southwestern edge of Damascus, has been under the control of opposition armed groups since mid-2012. Syrian government forces surrounded it in 2013 but began allowing aid access in mid-2014 under a local deal.
However, government forces closed the only entry point on Dec. 26 last year, after allowing 50-100 government employees to leave. Other civilians were not warned of the closure, the United Nations said.
“We received permission to bring in medical items to Mouadamiya, medical items that have not been allowed into these besieged areas in previous convoys. We are talking here about antibiotics and analgesics,” said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson.
In February WHO had delivered 15 tons of medical supplies to Mouadamiya but some vital medicines were removed, leaving thousands of people deprived of vital medical support, said the health organization in a statement.
Living conditions were in Mouadamiya were already dire but deteriorated further since the recent closure reportedly led to severe shortages of food, medicines and other basic commodities, said the U.N.
The town has not had electricity since November 2012, and most residents fetch untreated water manually from wells. The last food aid delivery was on February 17.
WHO said that since January 2016, it has delivered medicines, medical supplies and vaccines to a number of hard-to-access areas in Syria.