Over the course of six days in June 2012, MSF has set up its first field hospital in Syria to treat the wounded in the Syrian conflict. The hospital located in the village of Atmeh, northwest Syria, initially focused on emergency trauma surgery, but in 2013 it was turned into a specialized unit for burns and is still providing these services until now.

Today, northwest Syria is home to between 4.5 and 5 million people, including 2.8 million internally displaced, 80 per cent of whom are women and children. More than 1.5 million are still living in tents and have been repeatedly displaced.

In such context, the response to the needs of burnt patients in northwest Syria remains very complex. In general, the health system in northwest Syria is extremely fragile. Many health facilities were bombed and are no longer functional. Many medical personnel have been killed or fled, and there is a shortage of supply. And since burns require specialized, costly, and long-term medical care, specialized medical personnel are rare to find. This means that burns treatment services available are too limited in the area compared to the needs.

Right before the February earthquake, the remaining hospital treating burnt patients has closed due to lack of funding. Atmeh Hospital remains till this day the only hospital specialized in burn care, where acute burns cases up to 40% burnt surface are treated. In this unit, MSF provides surgery, skin grafts, dressings, physiotherapy and psychological support as well as reconstructive surgery, all free of charge.

Serious or complicated cases are normally referred to Turkey by ambulance, as there are no intensive care units for burnt in the northwest. After the earthquake, the border with Turkiye was closed. MSF Atmeh Burn Unit increased the bed capacity from 17 to 29 to answer increased needs. MSF was able to refer again its first patients to Turkiye on the 2nd of April, so almost two months after the earthquake.