Knights of Malta set up clinic for Syrians

The Knights of Malta are setting up a mobile clinic for injured Syrians just five kilometres outside the war-torn country, in keeping with their tradition of defending the sick and displaced. The €1.7 million project consists of a 24-bed clinic in containers near the Kilis public hospital, the first stop for many of the injured arriving from northern Syria. It will be transferred across the border into Syria when conditions allow. The Order of Malta has been active in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon since August 2012, providing emergency aid for more than 30,000 people. Following the Syrian army crackdown on the opposition stronghold of Homs in March last year, Turkey reported an increase in the influx of refugees, amounting to hundreds of migrants each day. Turkey officials near the Syrian border expected as many as 50,000 and set up a refugee camp in southern provinces including Kilis. Whenever the Syrian city of Aleppo is bombed, Kilis, with a population of 80,000, takes in Syrian refugees. To date, the Turkish border town has hosted about 35,000 refugees. Malteser International, the Order of Malta’s humanitarian relief agency, is coordinating the mobile clinic project in Kilis. A...