Healthcare in Syria

The public hospitals in Syria are a nightmare.  They were bad before 2011 and they are worse now.  They are not an option.  I wouldn't take a sick dog or cat to one.  The private hospitals are much better but still below international standards.
One thing you have to know about private hospitals in Syria is that they require up-front payment even in life-threatening emergencies.  No money = no care.  The private hospitals in Syria are notorious for not dealing with insurance companies in emergencies and not showing any compassion or flexibility.  They refuse to start with care and accept a guarantee of payment from the insurance company.  Most of them have no credit card facilities.
Insurance is always a must but it won't be able to help you in a medical emergency in Syria.

Bonne journee Julien and M. Lumb

I am curious why you would like to expatriate to Syria. You are Canadian  love photography and complain about the sorry state of health care in Syria. Maybe if you were Syrian and in dire need of emergency care they would not require up front payment or ask for your insurance card if you came to the ER

In many poor countries there are public and private  hospitals. The care is more expensive and better at the private hospitals. International health insurance is a good thing to have if you would like private health and hospital care. They have to pay their bills. And they are still likely to be substandard in the third world

If you are from a North America or any western country the differences are likely to be glaring with regards to sanitation, availability and quality of specialist doctors and overall quality of care. Public health care is something generally of lower standards and for the most part utilized by the country's citizens and not expats. Although in Ecuador it is available to Canadians and Americans who qualify for retirement visas. Those that avail themselves of this inexpensive (about $70USD/mo) and generous offering of the Ecuadorian government  report that it is adequate for their needs. A knowledge of Spanish is advisable particularly in urgent situations

I am a US citizen and RN and we hear very bad reports about the Canadian "socialized" medicine. Long waits for things like specialist appointments and elective surgery. If health care is an important issue for you and your family I would recommend France first...probably the best socialized medicine in the world and much more beautiful if you love photography than Syria at this very sad moment in her history. If you are a very courageous photo journalist and can make do with what's available in terms of health care then the Syrian people I am sure would welcome you.

Sweden is probably the second best socialized medicine in the world. Like France you can not avail yourself of it unless you are a citizen or a refugee. There is a French retirement visa and after some time you can be eligible but there are strict requirements for that visa .

As you you know there a number of international health insurance companies with varying price ranges and plans based on your needs. I am fortunate to be a US citizen and have Medicare at a younger age than most. Unfortunately it does not reimburse my doctors well. I don't mind paying the difference because I have very good doctors. and a lot of debt has been forgiven.  People come from all over the world to get specialized care, surgery and other treatments here. Medical insurance in the US is expensive and on par with the international companies I have looked into. It is very difficult to get US citizenship now.

I do here reports and watch video from Syrian hospitals. There are many brave and dedicated doctors and nurses working to save lives there. Many of them have resorted to operating underground so that they will be less vulnerable to bombing and still they are being bombed by the Syrian and now the Russian Army despite international and humanitarian law. Reports are that they are being targeted because "terrorists" are operating in them  for protection. There was a tragic bombing in Kunduz province in Afghanistan and total  destruction of an MSF hospital by american planes and helicopter gunships providing air support for the Afghan army who were trying to rout Taliban soldiers in the area. The eyewitness reports are graphic and I will not write them here. It is a similar situation to Syria and now the entire province of Kunduz will have no hospital or health care because MSF is of course unsafe to operate in the area and there is nothing left of the hospital. It is a similar situation in Palestine. All war crimes.

It is a tragic situation. Although there was a ray of hope in Syria very recently posted  on youtube ...very bittersweet for me. A pregnant women past her 9 months hit in the abdomen by shrapnel from a barrel bomb. She was rushed, actually physically carried to a hospital and successfully delivered a baby girl by Cesarean section with shrapnel lodged in her forehead. It was successfully removed and did not enter her brain so she is likely to be okay.  Initially she did not cry despite vigorous rubbing and patting which is the usual stimulation needed to start an infant breathing if they are unable to do it on there own. So grace of God for the doctors and the compatriots of the mother who rushed her to the hospital.The mother is alive and the child as well. I am sure she is traumatized beyond anything that I can imagine as a woman in a sane and civilized world. And when I heard them saying humdoullilah over and over again I knew she would survive. I was actually saying out loud to an empty room cry...cry... cry and she did. They named her Hope

I speak fair French some Russian and have 30+ years experience as a nurse. If I were younger and healthier I would be more than happy to do anything I could to help the Syrian people. I am helping to get a Syrian family out of Oman who had the resources to flee Aleppo two years ago. The father and mother are health care professionals with two children under the age of three. The US is finally opening it's doors to Syrian refugees and with any luck, God willing they will be able to come here. There are a number of visa options,  we have a lawyer and now all I need to do is find them the money required and I know where I will find it. Also I am writing to two American soldiers in Syria that found me online. I don't even know what to say....something funny or cheerful... or report today's news. from the US Defense Dept...the Iranian army poised on the Syrian border to make a massive ground invasion and the Russian army which controls territory and cities all over Syria and has been bombing them for some time. Per reports today the Americans have been "blindsided" by the perfidy of the Russians. They are apparently not supporting Assad or could care less who governs Syria. It is the desire to control strategic territory,  the naval base at Tartorus and as much other territory as possible. I am sure that ISIL are trembling in their boots. I would much rather be enemies with the west than the Iranians or the Russians and I am grateful that I am not in a foxhole in Syria.

So Mr Lumb if you do expatriate to Syria consider yourself fortunate to have medical insurance but I would recommend going to a safer less conflicted country. This is only my opinion with all due respect

I regret saying that I live in a sane and civilized world. I often think Canada or Australia would be a better place to live. Maybe French Polynesia with not the best health care...the lifestyle would compensate...a trade off

Here the citizens have Second Amendment Rights guaranteed by our founding fathers in the Constitution that is the right to keep and bear arms. Another mass shooting at a community college right here in safe "green " Oregon. The fourth since August ONLY nine dead shot execution style by some lunatic..someone in a wheelchair..another woman shot who will survive and be able to recount this nightmare. Another survived laying on the floor playing dead. Complete insanity.....there is no war in southern Oregon

I only have to see these "gun rights advocates" and their Kalishnikovs when they demonstrate for their  rights  on the steps of our beautiful capitol and we cry about our disenchanted youth who run off to the Middle East to fight for savages.

Excuse me please, Julien for being "political". I can't imagine anything more dreadful than being in Sryia at this moment. How can you complain about health care in a war zone?

We say the world is "going to hell in a hand basket" and right now I think it is true. Tomorrow I won't watch the news ...maybe just listen to music, do the laundry and pray for the Syrian patriots, innocents and anyone who defends them

Hi Sue,
Your replies are way too long and off topic.  Julien was asking specifically about the health care in Syria.

it is abysmal...do you watch or read the news?....Mr Lumb I hope you will reconsider