Turkey to restore Tal Abyad hospital destroyed by YPG terrorists




A hospital in northern Syria’s Tal Abyad province, which was heavily damaged when terrorists from the PKK terrorist group's Syrian branch People’s Protection Units (YPG) burned it before their withdrawal, is being restored by the Turkish Health Ministry.

The ministry announced plans to get the hospital running at full capacity shortly after the province was liberated from terrorists following Operation Peace Spring.

The YPG terrorist group had previously separated the hospital into two parts, one of which was to be used for its members while the other was for local people. Yet, as the terrorist group fled from the area, they rendered the section for the locals unusable by damaging laboratories, operating rooms and gynecology services.

Thanks to nonstop restoration, the hospital has already started treating civilians. Some sections of the hospital have been repaired while the works for the other parts continue.

After full restoration, planned to be complete in the next few weeks, the hospital will have a 75-bed capacity.

In a recent interview, Şanlıurfa Provincial Health Director Emre Erkuş explained that the terrorists rendered medical devices unoperational and even took some with them.

"In the process from now on, the current hospital has to be raised again. Our architects, engineers are working toward this aim," he said.

"The maps of the electricity, water, oxygen and gas systems of the building have to be drawn up while several departments including the emergency room, intensive care units, newborn units have to be redesigned," Erkuş explained.

"With the organization of our ministry, personnel recruitment, acquisition of lacking material and devices are carried out from the other side. All together we are working day and night for the hospital to be ready for full service as soon as possible," Erkuş said, adding Turkey, Syria and the local assembly are cooperating extensively with each other.

"When the restoration works are completed, this will be a full-fledged hospital with operating units, roentgen, laboratories and tomography."

Thanking Turkey, a Syrian worker Halid Ettahri expressed his joy for the restoration work.

"Thanks to Turkey our hospital has been repaired, it will be better than before. The YPG and PKK persecuted and oppressed us before, they also burned down many houses," he said.

Tal Abyad is populated to a great extent by Arabs and was occupied by the Daesh terrorist group in 2014. A year later, the PKK terror group's Syrian offshoot the YPG occupied the city with the support of the U.S.

Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the YPG on Oct. 9.

Tal Abyad was cleared of terrorists as part of Operation Peace Spring on Oct. 13. Since then, locals have gradually returned with humanitarian aid being provided with the help of the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish Red Crescent.

At least 10,000 people were given food and hygiene products and hundreds of others have been provided checkups.

The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.