LONDON: The Syrian Ministry of Health shut down a private hospital in the southwestern city of Daraa on Tuesday after a viral video showed unhygienic conditions in the neonatal care department.
A Syrian father recently shared a video on social media of his newborn child placed in neonatal care at Yarmouk Hospital. Within a very close distance from the premature baby, there were two beds covered with jute mallow leaves that a nurse had left there to dry.
Jute mallow, known in Syria as mlukhiyeh, is a green leaf that is dried and cooked with rice and meat or chicken across Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
The video prompted health authorities in Daraa to pay an inspection visit to the hospital in question, according to local news website Athr Press.
The inspectors from the Daraa Health Department recorded several violations at Yarmouk Hospital, including excess beds and an additional operations room, head of the department Bassam Suwaidan told Athr.
The healthcare system in Daraa and across Syria has been devastated by over a decade of war, a severe brain drain and the destruction of infrastructure.
