In the civilized world, hospitals are off-limits in war. But in Syria, the dictatorship of Bashar al Assad is hitting hospitals, relentlessly, killing more than 800 doctors and medical workers.
On assignment for “60 Minutes,” Scott Pelley and his team traveled into Syria with American doctors who volunteer to risk death to save lives.
Hospitals in rebel-held territory have been driven underground. They’re makeshift affairs with equipment and drugs salvaged from medical centers that were leveled in cities including Aleppo.
“You work with the understanding that you might find yourself dead, or… or crippled, or dismembered on the floor next to the people you’re trying to save. Because the bombs would land so close they’d… they’d knock you off your feet,” said Dr. Samer Attar.
Attar was born in Chicago to Syrian parents. He’s a leading orthopedic surgeon and a member of the Syrian American Medical Society. The society used to just connect Syrian-American doctors to one another but it rose into action with the war, and today, it supplies doctors and millions of dollars in aid to the suffering.
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