UK doctors head to Aleppo to kit out children's hospital with medical supplies

A convoy of British doctors are leaving London tomorrow with medical supplies to kit out an entire children’s hospital in Aleppo.

Campaigners have raised more than £100,000 for gear to be sent from London to an area just outside the besieged Syrian city where they plan to set up a new facility.

The team, The People’s Convoy, are working with humanitarian bodies and non-governmental organisations for the mission, and will provide items such as stethoscopes and incubators.

Led by British-Syrian doctor Rola Hallam, the convoy will travel to Turkey where they will hand over the supplies to the Independent Doctors Association, an NGO, which will then take them to the planned children’s hospital.

The last hospital in East Aleppo was destroyed by Russian and Syrian air strikes last month, leaving up to 250,000 people without access to care.

The organisation said the facility will be built within an existing building in the countryside north of the city and will serve 185,000 people, a third of whom are children under 12 years old.

Dr Hallam said: “This is aid from the people to the people.”