Wounded Syrians strain Jordan's hospitals

IRBID, Jordan, March 16 (UPI) -- The most severely wounded among 80,000 Syrians who fled to Jordan to escape the violence in their country are taxing Jordanian health services, officials said.

The most serious victims have been treated in Jordanian government hospitals while others have had to pay out-of-pocket for medical services, Voice of America reported Thursday.

Dr. Wasfi al-Rashda, head of the private Irbid Specialty Hospital in Irbid, Jordan, said facilities like his can do only so much.

"In this hospital, I can take care of one, two, three, four patients for free but the number of refugees is so big and this hospital is not supported by the government," al-Rashda said. "So it's important that humanitarian groups, local or international, help out, like in any humanitarian emergency."

Khaled Ghizawi told VOA he lost a hand and sight in one eye when Syrian soldiers lobbed a grenade at him in front of his vegetable shop. He said he received emergency treatment secretly in Syria before fleeing to Jordan, but hasn't been able to have any follow-up treatment.

"My arm is still in pain," Ghizawi said. "We have not seen anything of the [Syrian] opposition. We have had no aid at all. And as you see I should be in a hospital, not here [in Jordan]."