Some 1.5 million Syrians have lost one of their limbs or body parts as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country, Al-Watan newspaper reported a medical source in Damascus as saying yesterday.
Houssein Nofal, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Damascus University, told the newspaper: “The number of people who suffered disabilities due to the conflict has reached 1.5 million who have lost a body part.”
A report issued by Handicap International stated that as a result of the Syrian conflict “a shocking one million people have been injured, tens of thousands of whom need artificial limbs, orthopaedic devices, and long-term rehabilitation care.”
According to the organisation’s Director of Operations Florence Daunis: “Handicap International is taking immediate action to prevent people developing permanent disabilities.”
Nofal also revealed another study conducted in Syria to develop the DNA map of those living in the country saying that “saliva samples are taken from the individuals living in the various municipalities, and the samples are then identified and computerised records are kept. Therefore, any corpse found whose DNA does not match the saliva taken from the inhabitants will be identified as a foreign corpse.”
He added: “A comprehensive study is being carried out and the map will be implemented in the near future… there are a large number of unidentified corpses, reaching thousands.”
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