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16 civilians killed in a Turkish air raid on a hospital in Afrin

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Beirut, March 16, 2018 (AFP) – Sixteen civilians were killed on Friday in a Turkish airstrike that hit the main hospital in the Kurdish city of Afrine in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory said. human rights (OSDH).

The Red Crescent, whose employees work in the establishment, confirmed to AFP the strike, without providing a balance sheet.

Since 20 January, the Turkish army and its Syrian auxiliaries have been carrying out a military offensive against Afrine, a region controlled by the People’s Protection Units (YPG). This Kurdish militia is considered a terrorist by Turkey but allied with the United States in the fight against the group Islamic State (IS).

Sixteen civilians were killed in the strike, including two pregnant women, said OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahman.

No hospital staff is among the victims, he added. Information confirmed by Serwan Bery, a senior Kurdish Red Crescent official, who said it was the “only operational hospital in the city of Afrine”.

In recent days, the vice has tightened on Afrine, that the civilians flee by thousands.

The specter of a siege or assault on this city of some 350,000 inhabitants raises fears of a new humanitarian tragedy in Syria. At least 15,000 people fled Afrine Friday, according to the OSDH.

Glendale hospitals gather community and religious leaders to celebrate Armenian Christmas

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By Jeff Landa,

With the help of local religious leaders, two Glendale hospitals held ceremonies Friday to help the large Armenian community in the city celebrate Armenian Christmas, which falls on Jan. 6 each year.

At Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, prelate of the western United States, and members of his clergy led a ceremony with prayers at 11 a.m. in both English and Armenian.

“The start of the new year presents a wonderful opportunity for mankind and will be patient for renewal,” Mardirossian said. “The new year brings this opportunity for renewal, however, [it] comes from God.”

Hospital staff, employees and executives were joined by local leaders such as Glendale Mayor Vartan Gharpetian, Fire Chief Greg Fish and state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), who spoke briefly before the ceremony.

“As a Roman Catholic, representing an Armenian community, I love celebrating Christmas twice,” he said. “It’s an honor to represent such a vibrant and spiritual community.”

Faith-based hospital Adventist Health Glendale held a similar Armenian Christmas ceremony at noon led by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, leader of the Western Diocese Armenian Church.

Derderian said prayers and blessed water and the Armenian pastry called Gata as a symbol of the baptism of Jesus Christ.

“There are millions of interpretations about our thoughts and feelings [of Christmas], but one statement in which I will leave with you: Christmas is the time where we lead our lives to holiness,” he said.

Council members Paula Devine and Vrej Agajanian as well as Mayor Gharpetian also joined the Adventist ceremony.

In keeping with tradition, the Armenian Orthodox Church maintains Christmas on Jan. 6, which is 12 days after the Dec. 25 date many other denominations observe the religious holiday.

Armenian Christmas is also referred to as the Epiphany or the Holy Nativity of Christ.

Dr. Ani Nalbandian Named Columbia New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Intern of the Year

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(L to R) Dr. David Chong, Dorothy Bengoian, Rev. Fr. Untzag Nalbandian, Dr. Ani Nalbandian, Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum, Yn. Setta Nalbandian, Maral Hosdaghian, Shaunt Hosdaghian

NEW YORK—On April 19, Dr. Ani Nalbandian was named recipient of the John N. Loeb Intern of the Year Award at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), in New York.

This prestigious and highly-coveted award is granted to the member of the intern class who consistently demonstrated dedication, kindness and a desire to be of service to her patients. Dr. Nalbandian was voted deserving recipient of this award by peer residents, and presented the award by program leadership and key faculty in a ceremony at the conclusion of Medicine Grand Rounds.

Presenting the award were then Assistant Program Director and Medical Director of Critical Care Services, Dr. David Chong; then Program Director and Professor of Medicine, Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum; and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of New York Presbyterian Hospital-CUMC, Dr. Donald L. Landry.

Also present were members of Dr. Nalbandian’s family, including parents, Fr. Untzag and Yn. Setta Nalbandian of Trumbull, Conn.

Dr. Ani Nalbandian grew up in the Holy Ascension Armenian Church community in Trumbull. She completed her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in 2016. Prior to entering medical school, she completed translational science research at a tissue engineering lab at Yale School of Medicine, taught as a volunteer teacher at Sts. Tarkmanchatz Armenian School in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, and completed a two-year Intramural Research Training Award at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was also named a Fulbright recipient, an honor that she declined in order to accept the NIH award. She is now a second year resident in Columbia New York Presbyterian’s three-year Internal Medicine residency program.

Quintuplets born in Yerevan hospital

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Quintuplets, including four girls and one boy, were born in maternity hospital in Yerevan in the early hours of Wednesday.
The parents, a couple from Metsamor (Armavir region), say they are shocked but at the same time pleasantly surprised for the rare gift of nature.
Doctors initially told the couple that they were going to have triplets. “As we went for an ultra-sound examination a few days later, we were told they were quintuplets,” said Vardan Karapetyan, the father.
The family have no other children.
The infants, delivered by Ceasarian section, weigh on average 950g. The smallest weighed 950g at birth.

Glendale hospitals and local religious leaders celebrate Armenian Christmas

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This week, two Glendale hospitals collaborated with local religious leaders to again celebrate Armenian Christmas with two separate ceremonies.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital were able to honor the large area Armenian community at their respective Christmas ceremonies with the help of local Armenian churches.

Hospital employees, medical staff, hospital executives, city officials and the public attended the blessings this week ahead of Armenian Christmas, which falls on Jan. 6 every year.

Wounded ISIS fighters brought to Turkey hospitals in ‘pick-up trucks’ – doctors, eyewitnesses to RT

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ISIS treated(RT) Islamic State militants are frequently transported across the Syrian border to Turkish hospitals for treatment, according to eyewitness accounts collected by RT on the ground. Their crossing was allegedly ensured by Turkish officials.

Both Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) and Free Syrian Army fighters were able to cross the border from Syria into Turkey en masse and receive medical help – only to then be allowed to go back to resume fighting in Syria, the head of a local doctors’ association told RT’s Lizzie Phelan.

Phelan visited Gaziantep, a city in south-central Turkey some 60 kilometers from the Syrian border. Eyewitnesses and doctors told the RT correspondent that most of the IS fighters were treated in the border city of Kilis south of Gaziantep.

“Many wounded ISIS militants or FSA [Free Syrian Army] fighters were brought to the border in pick-up trucks, not ambulances,” Medical Association Chair in Gaziantep and Kilis Hamza Agca said. “Many were unconscious and bleeding when they were brought to us.”

The injured men were apparently driven right from a “war zone” and doctors often had to deal with things like “grenades falling out of their pockets,” Agca added.

One doctor from Kilis also confirmed to RT that they were receiving fighters from across the Turkish-Syrian border, including IS militants. The doctor said on condition of anonymity that he was just one of the doctors who treated terrorists in Kilis.

The medic described discovering suicide vests on some of the IS patients and feeling terrified as he was forced to take them off.

The doctor added that the flow of IS militants being admitted to Turkish hospitals has decreased, but they still see militants admitted every couple of weeks.

When asked how the doctors felt about treating terrorists, Agca said that as medical professionals they were under an oath to help the injured, no matter who they were. “Any doctor throughout the world would do the same,” he said.

However, after the treatment was over, the fighters were allowed to rejoin the battlefield back in Syria. “We treated these fighters and they went back to fight once they recovered, some were brought for a second or third time to our hospital,” Agca said.

He also said that Turkish government officials ensured that IS fighters were able to cross into Turkey with no obstacles. “In terms of their medical treatment, the government didn’t give us any order but their policy was to provide the opportunity to fighters to use the border crossing.”

The first reports of IS militants receiving costly and complicated medical treatment was reported in May. The information was leaked via tapped phone calls and was handed to the media by opposition MP Erem Erdem.

The Turkish government has been fiercely trampling on any allegations of links to Islamic State, pushing for the prosecution of reporters and opposition MPs alike for reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refers to as “treason.”

“After broadcasting this report, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to enter the country safely again,” Phelan said.

Turkey has been much tougher on local journalists. In May, it sentenced a Turkish reporter to 20 months in jail and took away her parental rights for allegedly breaching the confidentiality of a court case.

Arzu Yildiz published footage over a year ago from a court hearing that witnessed four prosecutors being sued for ordering a search of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization’s trucks that were traveling to Syria back in 2014. The government, which insists the contents were “humanitarian” cargo to Turkmen tribes, intervened to prevent the trucks from being searched and a number of people have been persecuted for the attempt, which fueled allegations that the vehicles were carrying weapons to terrorists in Syria.

Kim Kardashian, Armenian Ambassador in honor of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles “

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kim kardashian hospitalKim Kardashian was in recent days in New York where her husband Kanye West was to give a concert. Before New York, the queen of American reality shows was in Los Angeles where she was received by Paul Viviano director of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where Kim Kardashian was honored to have been part of “honor Armenian Ambassadors children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “ She was accompanied by the Archbishop of the Armenian Church, Archbishop Derderian Hovnan who was also a guest of honor. Kim Kardashian was pleased that his work recognized by the Armenian community and the children’s hospital. Kim Kardashian (35) which helps for 8 years already this hospital in Los Angeles. “The Armenian Ambassadors Hospital Los Angeles Children” is a group formed by Armenians who financially support the development of structures for sick children.

Krikor Amirzayan

President visits Armenian soldiers wounded during hostilities

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16959YEREVAN. – The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Monday paid a visit to the Ministry of Defense Central Clinical Military Hospital in capital city Yerevan.

At the medical center, Sargsyan met with the military servicemen who were wounded in the hostilities around the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact.

The President asked the physicians about the health condition of these soldiers, and expressed his support to these servicemen and wished them a speedy recovery.

The situation at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone dramatically escalated in the early morning hours on April 2. From regular shootings and frequent sabotage-reconnaissance attempts, Azerbaijan switched to large-scale attacks all along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact, using a variety of weaponry as well as artillery, armored vehicles, and air force. Both sides have suffered casualties.

Breaking News: At least 4 dead in neurological hospital fire in central Russia

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Fitr nerologicalAt least four people have been killed and 9 injured in a fire at a neurological hospital in Russia’s central Voronezh region. Up to 17 people remain unaccounted for after a partial roof collapse. Authorities have confirmed that the blaze has been put out.

Over 70 people were inside the building, among them at least four medical personnel, when the fire started. At least 29 of the patients were reportedly bedridden or with limited mobility.

Some 57 people have been evacuated from the burning building, according to emergency services working at the scene.

Two people have been declared dead, while at least nine have been hospitalized after suffering injuries. Another two of the wounded reportedly succumbed to their injuries en route to hospital, an emergency services source told RIA.

Seventeen people reportedly remain unaccounted for as authorities continue working at the scene. The roof of the single-story unit collapsed when the fire consumed all 600 square meters of the building.

Forty six people were transferred to another unit which had not been damaged by the fire.

Authorities believe that a wiring malfunction in the hospital’s electrical system might be the cause of the tragedy.

“Among the main versions [are that it] is the faulty wiring, we are also considered a version of careless handling of fire,” a spokesman from the local emergencies ministry told RIA.

A team of experts are conducting an investigation on site, rescue services told Interfax. Authorities may press charges once the reason behind the fire has been established.

https://twitter.com/okonichnikov16/status/675815461792034816

Death toll rises to 16 at Afghan hospital as U.S. confirms strike and cites possible ‘collateral damage’

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Saturday, October 3, 2015 11:17 AM EDT
A United States airstrike appeared to have badly damaged a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in the Afghan city of Kunduz early Saturday, killing at least 16 people, including patients and staff, and wounding dozens.
The United States military, in a statement, confirmed the 2:15 a.m. airstrike, saying that it had been targeting individuals “who were threatening the force” and that “there may have been collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.”

Source: nytime