The collapse of Syria’s dictatorship, in December 2024, allowed Dr. Bachir Tajaldin to travel to hospitals and health care facilities that had been out of reach for years. What he found horrified him.

Doctors and other providers were working amid crumbling infrastructure and outdated, broken equipment in areas that former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime had controlled. Even critical medical supplies were scarce. Medical records were missing. Salaries for medical workers were unpaid.