Ky. doctor gathers medical aid for Syrian refugees
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kheder Kutmah has helplessly watched his native Syria destroyed by civil war, his relatives caught among an authoritarian regime, rebel fighters and Islamic State militants.
He has also seen it spark a massive refugee crisis, pushing 3.3 million Syrians into Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, where many now struggle to survive amid overwhelmed hospitals, refugee camps, housing and schools.
And that's where the Louisville doctor decided he could help.
Mobilizing the Kentucky-based Mercy Foundation, which he helped found, the Catholic Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Louisville's Supplies Over Seas, Kutmah last week helped pack a 40-foot, ocean-going shipping container with $190,000 worth of donated medical supplies bound for Lebanon.
Filled with beds, stretchers, suction equipment, wound care supplies, sutures, anesthesia machines, crutches and scrubs, the container will be distributed to hospitals and clinics serving sick and wounded refugees — Mercy Foundation's fourth such shipment to Lebanon and Turkey since 2012.
"It could help save lives, and give them some hope. Even if it's almost nothing" compared to the need, he said.
Melissa Mershon, president of Supplies Over Seas, said the "health and hope" aid made possible by a Muslim doctor and Catholic group serves as a powerful symbol in a conflict saturated with divisive politics and religion.
"I think what's really remarkable is you have two very diverse faith groups who have come together who just want to help," Mershon said.
The aid comes as the war continues to drag on after it began in 2011 with protests amid the Arab Spring uprisings. A crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad led to an armed conflict with rebels that spiraled into bombings of residential areas and the use of chemical weapons.
More recently, the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has taken control of portions of the country. Some rebel groups also still hold ground, as does Assad's regime. More than 190,000 people have died in the war.
"It's a mess," said Kutmah, who left Syria in the 1990s but still has parents and siblings outside of Damascus, where travel is dangerous because each faction maintains dangerous roadblocks.
Meantime, the heavy flow of refugees is increasingly straining their resources and threatening political stability in nearby countries. Lebanon, with a population of just 4.5 million, has taken in more than a million refugees, causing severe shortages of housing, health care and jobs.
A Washington Post story recently portrayed refugees living in a half-finished shopping malls and garbage-strewn junkyards with hand-dug latrines and unsafe water.
Amnesty International earlier this year highlighted a severe shortage of medical care, noting that few can afford Lebanon's private, expensive health system.
As a result, many "suffering from serious health conditions requiring hospital care or more complicated treatments often go untreated," the group said. That's where Kutmah's supplies will help.
"We're trying to collect medical supplies to help people who have been injured and been suffering" and hopefully save lives, he said, noting the supplies were donated from Kentucky and Indiana hospitals. "Hopefully they know from where it's coming" to build ties with the U.S.
He said his parents, brother and sister are still living in a government-controlled suburb of Damascus. Food, power, natural gas are all hard to come by.
The U.S. has funded relief efforts, and has signaled it plans to take more Syrian refugees — though likely only a tiny sliver of those in need.
For now, Kutmah said he hopes his efforts send "a major message, that's it not (about) fighting between religions. We can work and live together," he said.