Tzfat – Syrian Sent To Israeli Hospital With Note Attached

Tzfat – A wounded Syrian civilian, who was transferred to the IDF at the border, was treated at Ziv Hospital in Safed with a note written in Arabic pinned to his clothing describing his medical condition.

According to the note, the man had spent two days in a Syrian hospital. He is the first wounded Syrian to be treated in Israel after first receiving medical treatment in the country plagued by a nearly two-year-old civil war. Israeli medical institutions have so far treated 20 Syrians sent over the border.

The note said: “To the honorable doctor, hello. The patient ––––, 28 years old, was hit by a bullet that went into his chest and caused a fracture in his ribs and damage by shrapnel to the diaphragm and liver. We opened his chest and abdomen and stopped the hemorrhaging of the liver. It was impossible to sew up the liver, so we put a pressure bandage on the stomach and sewed him up.
He remained for observation. From Saturday, we watched his hemoglobin level and vital signs. The doctors say his abdomen has to be reopened to examine the liver and remove the pressure bandage. Please do what you think needs to be done. Thanks in advance.”

At the bottom, the Syrian doctor listed the drugs the patient was given and signed his name.

Ziv Hospital director Dr. Oscar Embon commented that the patient was in very serious condition and transported by the UN to the IDF for continued treatment in Israel.

Dr. Amram Hadari, head of the Ziv trauma unit who was involved in treating the patient in Safed, said that the man underwent a “damage control operation” in Syria.

“It was elementary. I don’t know what means of treatment the Syrian doctors had, but they saved his life. Here, he underwent another operation to treat the wound in the liver, sew up the diaphragm and drain fluid from the chest area. After the surgery, he was sent to our general intensive care unit,” Hadari said.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post