David Nott: Medics Under Fire
Back in January when I first had the idea of a march to protest against the targeting of healthcare workers in warzones, I couldn’t have imagined how bad things would be by the time we gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 7 May.
We marched – doctors, families, medical students, activists, experts and supporters – to Downing Street under the banner ‘Medics Under Fire.’ That week people had been shocked by the chilling footage of Dr Mohammed Moaz, whose family I knew in Aleppo, walking down a corridor in his hospital seconds before the direct attack on his hospital from an air to ground rocket delivered by a warplane. Dr Moaz was one of the last remaining paediatricians in Aleppo and performed vital work looking after the children of that devastated city.
The hospital was just 500 metres from where I worked in the summer of 2014 and was destroyed, killing 27 healthcare workers and 2 doctors. When I was there, five of my colleagues were killed as were both of the anaesthetists that I worked with. Both were targeted as they went to work in the hospital. One of the hospitals I worked in was bombed at least 10 times.
From Central African Republic and Sudan to the Yemen and Ukraine; ambulances, hospitals and health centres have been bombed, looted, burned and destroyed.
Read the complete blog at: The Hippocratic Post
March with Medics Under Fire
On Saturday, 7 May, 2016, Dr David Nott will be one of the speakers at a march organised by a collection of medical charities to protest against the targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers in war zones.
If you were horrified by the attacks on hospitals last week in Aleppo, which killed the last remaining paediatrician in the city, please come and support us.
We will meet on the North Terrace of Trafalgar Square at 2pm. A number of short speeches will be given before we march to Downing Street to deliver a letter calling for action against those who contravene international humanitarian law to target medical workers. You can find more information here: https://www.facebook.com/
Confirmed speakers include:
David Nott, Founder and Chairman, The David Nott Foundation
Dr Saleyha Ahsan, A&E doctor and film maker
Sidney Brown, Director of Programmes, Physicians for Human Rights
Toby Cadman, International human rights lawyer; President of the International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Chemical weapons expert, International human rights lawyer, president of International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights
Ghana Tayara, Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM)
Rob Williams, Chief Executive, War Child UK