Training and Provision of Medical Assistance in Syria Using Technology

Civil war currently occurring in Syria has made the population of medical personnel decline drastically. The immense amount of bombing and raiding of hospitals and ambulances has had many of these important people killed. In the city of Aleppo, the Assad regime has carried out huge massacres to prevent these from realizing their niche: saving the lives of and helping recover those that are injured because of the atrocities that have risen in the past few years. These roles are being undertaken by medical students, ambulance drivers, and non-doctors that cannot yet carry out the processes to medically help a person. However, technology has helped doctors communicate with these people to educate them about medicine and health care. Through video calls, calls, and text messages, they have taught the desperate amateurs how to clean wounds, suture knots, and even carry out difficult surgeries.

Syria is a place of war and violence, a place where doctors would not risk to go. However, those that do risk their lives to save people have stood out bravely and have been able to do it with the help of technology. Although it would not be ideal to give medical education through a screen, as a last resource, in a country of poverty and war, it is the last thing people can try. Thanks to modern technology, the non-doctor people that are willing to help injured are being educated by doctors that live all the way across the globe. This is just an example of how technology is a powerful educational tool that defies the need of classrooms, lecture halls, or an operating room. The inspiring initiative can be expanded to the globe, so technological platforms can be used to aid education in parts of the world where it is needed. Again, thanks to technology, we are able to help those in need wherever they are, whenever they need it.