Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), ‘Doctors without Borders’, provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Its teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff. Their actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.
The teams conduct independent evaluations to determine medical needs and assess what assistance to provide. Different criteria determine what they do, such as the magnitude of a given crisis, the levels of illness and mortality in the population, the severity of exclusion from healthcare, and the added value MSF can bring to the affected people.
MSF funding relies largely on individuals donating small amounts. This helps to ensure operational independence and flexibility to respond at a moment’s notice to the most urgent crises, including those which are under-reported or neglected.
Currently, MSF teams have been responding in northwest Syria since the first hours of the earthquake disaster. MSF has donated medical supplies to 38 hospitals and clinics, including emergency trauma and surgery kits, medicines, lab equipment and blankets. They have dispatched expert staff to support hard-hit healthcare facilities and have opened triage tents outside four wards and are running five mobile clinics at reception centres and camps, offering essential medical consultations and psychological first aid.
To date, MSF-supported hospitals have seen more than 7,600 injured patients in Northwest Syria.
As a medical service, we admire the ethos and missions of MSF and will continue to support the works of these ‘heroes without capes’ in our very small way. For more information, go to https://msf.org.uk
Supporting charities such as MSF come as part of our wider ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) policy, which also includes environmental efforts like energy efficiency, minimising our carbon footprint, recycling, patient care, employee engagement, looking after the wider community, supporting Human Rights and more. We welcome feedback from all our patients, staff and friends to help in this endeavour.
– Message from Mrs CC Kat, Clinic Director and Dr H Kat, Director of Finance
