UN inspectors ordered out by regime after 90 minutes – doctor

Doctor who met United Nations group said inspectors were meant to stay for six hours at site of suspected chemical attack

Mona Mahmood

theguardian.com, Monday 26 August 2013

 

"UN inspectors were not able to visit at least a half-dozen key sites in the area of the suspected chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, according to a doctor who met the group.
Dr Abu Akram, who runs a makeshift hospital at Mua'adamiyat Al-Sham, said the arrival of the inspectors was delayed by four hours because of the gunfire attack on their convoy. He said he saw bullet holes in a UN vehicle or vehicles.
The inspectors "were supposed to stay for six hours but they stayed for an hour and a half only".

They visited the makeshift hospital in Mau'adamiyia and talked to more than 20 victims.
They were doctors with the committee and they took samples from the victims in the hospital. They took urine and blood samples as well as pieces of hair. All the victims were documented by videos.

The group went to the site of a chemical rocket strike:

They took samples of the soil and some affected animals. They took a chicken. They refused to take the chemical rocket. It seems they are not allowed to take the rocket with them.
After an hour and a half, they got an order from the regime to leave ASAP. The security force told the committee if they did not leave now, they could not guarantee their security. They could not visit the main six sites where the chemical rockets had fallen and lots of people were killed.

Akram said the inspectors were in four cars and numbered 12 men total. Some of them were doctors. They included Canadians, Egyptians and Sudanese:

I spoke to the committee about the symptoms of affected people, the situation inside the makeshift hospital, how we received the victims and how we treated them. I also told them where we found the bodies.
The committee spoke to the victims and asked them whether they were civilians or military. Most of the victims were civilians. They asked the victims were they were when the chemical rocket was fired. Most of the people were sleeping at their homes. The committee asked the victims about the symptoms and they told them they were suffering of suffocation and coma. Even the people who tried to help the victims like medical staff were suffering of the same symptoms.

Akram said he accepted "around 2,000" victims at his modest facility. "Five hundred of them were in a critical situation," he said. Eighty people were pronounced dead at the hospital and 20 victims are still in intensive care:

The committee did not visit any house in the district. We asked the committee to exhume the bodies for checking them. But they refused. They say that there was no need to do that.
We had prepared samples for the committee from some bodies and video documentation. There were urine and blood samples as well as clothes. But they refused to take them.
We asked them if they could supply us with medical aid but they said that they do not have the authority to do so.
We are worried that the regime intelligence would play with the samples and change them. The hotel is under the control of the regime.
Some of the Arab members of the committee were not in support with us. We do not want their support but we want them to be objective."