Syria: Hama hospitals 'closed after army attacks'

Hama came under a week-long assault from government troops after large protests

A
doctor in the Syrian city of Hama has told the BBC that medical
services there have been severely affected by recent government attacks.

The doctor, who cannot be named for his safety, said two
hospitals were closed and one had been stormed by troops, injuring many
of the medical staff.




Hama has come under heavy attack in President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on anti-government protests.




The army says it has now left the city but activists say the attacks continue.




Syria is facing growing international condemnation of the
violence against its civilians, with the US calling for it to be
politically and economically isolated.




On Saturday, US President Barack Obama held phone
conversations with Saudi King Abdullah and British Prime Minister David
Cameron in which they expressed their concern over the violence.



Medics hurt

Tanks and troops were deployed to Hama at the end of July,
with the stated aim of restoring control after tens of thousands of
people staged protests against Mr Assad's regime.




After its much-publicised military retreat last week,
Damascus insists life there is now returning to normal, but activists
say the demonstrations have continued along with the civilian deaths.

Hama doctor

International journalists face severe restrictions to reporting in Syria, and it is hard to verify reports.

But the doctor in Hama said the city had two government
hospitals - one a paediatric centre - where people would normally go in
emergency cases.




"But people aren't going to the national hospital because the
security forces are there and have killed some wounded people," he
said.




Two of the city's private hospitals have been closed
completely because of the extent of the damage from shelling, he said,
while two more have been partially destroyed.




An intensive care unit and a large amount of medical equipment were destroyed by missiles at the al-Hourani hospital, he said.




"The security forces broke into the hospital, searching for
weapons. Many of the hospital team were injured during that break-in."




At the city's largest hospital, a severe lack of blood
supplies meant doctors could no longer carry out blood transfusions -
they also lacked basic medicines such as antibiotics, he said.




The doctor said he believed as many as 2,000 people had been
killed in the government assault on the city, but that many of the
bodies could not be found because they were buried under buildings
destroyed by missiles.




"Some bodies have been taken by the security forces and photographed to make them look like members of armed gangs," he said.



'Brutal reaction'

Mr Assad, who leads one of the most repressive countries in the Arab world, has blamed the unrest on "armed terrorists".

The Syrian army invited the media to witness its withdrawal from Hama last week

He has made some concessions, including revoking an emergency
law, and has promised to introduce political reforms, but his critics
say these do not go far enough and mean nothing as long as people
calling for democracy are killed.




The US has imposed sanctions on Damascus and Secretary of
State Hillary has called for an international embargo on oil, gas and
arms, saying giving economic or political support to Mr Assad was giving
"comfort in his brutality".




The White House said that in their conversation on Saturday,
Mr Obama and King Abdullah shared their "deep concerns about the Syrian
government's use of violence against its citizens".




"They agreed that the Syrian regime's brutal campaign of
violence against the Syrian people must end immediately," said the White
House in a statement.




Downing Street meanwhile said Mr Cameron and Mr Obama had
"expressed horror at the brutal reaction of the Syrian regime to
legitimate protests, particularly during Ramadan," the Muslim holy
month.




Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait have all recalled their
ambassadors from Damascus while Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
has described the methods used by the Syrian security forces as
"unacceptable".




The US has so far stopped short of calling for Mr Assad's
resignation, saying the call must be made alongside the wider
international community.