More than 800 health workers have died in "acts of war crimes" in Syria since 2011, a new British study revealed. The report published in The Lancet medical journal says that most victims died in hospital bombings, shootings and torture. 
This "weaponization" of health care, the report said, "has translated into hundreds of health workers killed, hundreds more incarcerated or tortured and hundreds of health facilities deliberately and systematically attacked".An estimated 15,000 doctors, about half the pre-war number, fled the country, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians without access to basic care.
The analysis was compiled by experts from universities in Beirut, Britain, and the United States, as well as the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and Multi-Aid Programs, an NGO. "2016 marked the most dangerous year to date for health workers in Syria, and attacks on health workers continue. Rampant violations of international humanitarian law, and particularly the systematic attacks on health facilities and workers with intention to shut down care, to control the population set dangerous precedents," said Dr. Samer Jabbour, one of the lead authors of the study, co-Chair of the Commission, and Associate Professor of Public Health Practice at AUB's Faculty of Health Sciences. 
"The international community has left these violations of international humanitarian and human rights law largely unanswered, despite their enormous consequences. There have been repudiated denunciations, but little action on bringing the perpetrators to justice. This inadequate response challenges the foundation of medical neutrality needed to sustain the operations of global health and protect health workers in situations of armed conflict," he added. 

Source : QNA