Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Aug 4;36(2):107-112.
doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1749105. eCollection 2022 May.

The Impact of the Syrian Civil War on One Department in an Israeli Hospital

Omer I Sagi  1   2 , Nissan Ohana  1   2 , Richard Appel  3 , Leonid Kogan  1   2
Affiliations
Review

The Impact of the Syrian Civil War on One Department in an Israeli Hospital

Omer I Sagi et al. Semin Plast Surg. .

Abstract

During the Syrian civil war, Syrian refugees crossed the Israeli border to receive medical treatment. During this time, Galilee Medical Center (GMC) became the main center for multidisciplinary treatment of these war-wounded patients. This retrospective study compares the demographics of local Israeli and refugee Syrian patients, as well as the volume and types of procedures each group received over a 5-year period. From January 2013 to December 2017, 963 unique patients underwent 1,751 procedures in the GMC Plastic Surgery Department. Of these patients, 176 were Syrian-including 42 children-and 787 were Israeli. These groups underwent 393 and 1,358 procedures, respectively, for a procedure-per-patient ratio of 2.23 versus 1.72, respectively. On average, Syrian patients tended to be younger than Israeli patients (23.6 vs. 49.25 years), had longer median hospitalization time (50 vs. 8 days), longer median operative times (102 vs. 85 minutes), and higher incidence of infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria (52.2 vs. 5.8%). Further, Syrian patients had more trauma-related procedures, such as skin grafts, wound debridement, and microsurgery, than Israeli patients. Through this process, GMC's plastic surgery department gained unprecedented exposure to a variety of complex procedures.

Keywords: Galilee Medical Center; Syrian war; civil war; health care service; plastic surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Border map of Northern Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Study population.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Number of procedures per year.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Number of plastic surgery operations per patient.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Number of procedures per patient, Syrians and Israeli groups.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Gender division between the Israeli and Syrian adult patients.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Pediatric patients gender division.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Syrian patient who arrived 4 days after shrapnel-packed missile attack.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
A 3-year-old child who arrived three days after being severely burned falling into boiled-milk pot, total body surface area (TBSA) of 30%, septic and hypovolemic shock.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zarka S, Barhoum M, Bader T. Israel's medical support to victims of the civil war in Syria. Isr Med Assoc J. 2014;16(02):71–72. - PubMed
    1. Kershner I.Across forbidden borders, doctors in Israel quietly tend to Syria's woundedAccessed April 26, 2022 at:https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/world/middleeast/across-forbidden-bor...
    1. McDonald H D, Vasconez L O. Advances in plastic surgery. West J Med. 1982;136(01):23–28. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abdelhalim M A, Chatterjee J S. The operative trauma workload in a plastic surgery tertiary referral centre in Scotland. Eur J Plast Surg. 2012;35:683–688.
    1. Plastic surgery clinical privilegesAccessed April 26, 2022 at:https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/quality-and-reg...