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Armenian doctors substituting for 2017 Aurora Laurate Tom Catena in Sudan back to Yerevan

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armenian doctorsThree Armenian doctors who temporarily substituted for Dr. Tom Catena and his humanitarian work in the Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan, returned to Yerevan on Saturday.

Armine Barkhudaryan, Hayk Hovhannisyan, and Gevorg Voskanyan left for Sudan earlier in May to substitute for the sole surgeon Mr. Catena in the local Mother of Mercy hospital in Sudan that serves the entire region, in order for the doctor to be able to attend the Aurora Prize weekend of events and the Award Ceremony in Yerevan.

Major Hayk Hovhannisyan talked to reporters at the airport, sharing their experience in Sudan. He said that during stay the group of Armenian doctors performed surgeries, delivered births as well as treated people with medicine with total number of around 200 patients served.

Armine Barkhudaryan on her part said she didn’t counted the delivered births,
“The moment was emotionally when locals separated from Armine and they probably miss her much,” Gevorg Voskanyan said, adding he would probably visit there again in the future.

“The life, the surroundings there cleanse one’s soul. We realize what true dedication and commitment are about. Sometimes we feel proud for tiny things and accept them as benevolence. Instead, one should go there and see the life of Tom Catena, to get the idea of true commitment,” Voskanyan said.

To remind, Dr. Tom Catena, a U.S. Catholic missionary who has saved thousands of lives as the sole doctor permanently based in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains was awarded  with the $1 Million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity.

The Aurora Prize, granted by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, was announced at a ceremony on May 28 in Yerevan, Armenia. He was selected as the 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate from more than 550 nominations submitted from 66 countries.

Over 700 doctors killed in 5-yr-long Syria conflict: UN Panel

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doctors deadA United Nations investigative panel has raised concerns about civilian fatalities in Syria, saying over 700 physicians and medical staff have lost their lives during five years of crisis gripping the Arab country.

Paulo Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released the figure in a report published on Tuesday.

Airstrikes on medical facilities across Syria “have resulted in scores of civilian deaths, including much-needed medical workers,” Pinheiro told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, adding, “More than 700 doctors and medical personnel have been killed in attacks on hospitals since the beginning of the conflict.”

“As civilian casualties mount, the number of medical facilities and staff decreases, limiting even further access to medical care,” he said.

The UN official further censured frequent raids on other facilities essential to civilian life, such as schools, markets, bakeries, mosques and water stations, noting, “With each attack, terrorized survivors are left more vulnerable.”

Elsewhere in his comments, Pinheiro said the UN commission was investigating allegations al-Nusra Front terrorist group “and other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have recruited hundreds of children under 15” in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.

He also denounced rights violations by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the violence-wracked country.

In a report published last week, the commission urged action against crimes committed by Daesh against the Izadi minority in Iraq and Syria, stressing that the Takfiri militants are still committing genocide against the Kurdish-speaking community.

Daesh was holding Izadis in conditions “that bring about a slow death,” selling women at slave markets, raping girls as young as nine, and drafting boys to fight for the terrorist group, according to the report.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy since March 2011. Damascus says Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are the main supporters of the militants fighting the government forces.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in the Middle Eastern state, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.