Baby Succumbs To Malnutrition İn Syria's Eastern Ghouta

Another baby has died in Syria's besieged Eastern Ghouta district, a health official said Friday.



Nine-month-old Hussein Makdeh is only one of several babies to have recently died of malnutrition in the besieged district.



A main opposition stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus, Eastern Ghouta has remained under siege by Syrian regime forces since late 2012.



The ongoing blockade has left the district's roughly 400,000 residents struggling with malnutrition and paralyzed local healthcare facilities.



The regime has tightened its blockade in recent months, preventing residents from importing their daily needs through tunnels or middlemen.



Most local residents, therefore, cannot find food or medicine and must try to get by with their own resources.



Enes Abu Yasir, a doctor and the manager of a local clinic, told Anadolu Agency that Makdeh had only weighed 4 kilograms before he died of malnutrition.



"He also had a chin deformity and therefore had difficulty drinking milk," Abu Yasir said.



The doctor went on to criticize a UNICEF committee that had recently visited his clinic.



"We showed Makdeh to the UNICEF team; they also checked him," he said.



"We wanted them to send him to a Damascus hospital, but they didn't even bring a bottle of milk," he said. "They only brought butter and energy biscuits."



-Critical



Local medics have recently examined 1,000 children from throughout the district.



"Three hundred of them suffer from malnutrition," Abu Yasir said, adding "40 of whom are now in critical condition".



"Since the regime doesn't allow food or medicine into the region, the number of children suffering from malnutrition increases each day," the doctor said.



He added: "If this situation continues, the region will face an unprecedented health crisis." -