The Knights of Malta are setting up a mobile clinic for injured Syrians just five kilometres outside the war-torn country, in keeping with their tradition of defending the sick and displaced.
The €1.7 million project consists of a 24-bed clinic in containers near the Kilis public hospital, the first stop for many of the injured arriving from northern Syria.
It will be transferred across the border into Syria when conditions allow.
The Order of Malta has been active in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon since August 2012, providing emergency aid for more than 30,000 people.
Following the Syrian army crackdown on the opposition stronghold of Homs in March last year, Turkey reported an increase in the influx of refugees, amounting to hundreds of migrants each day.
Turkey officials near the Syrian border expected as many as 50,000 and set up a refugee camp in southern provinces including Kilis.
Whenever the Syrian city of Aleppo is bombed, Kilis, with a population of 80,000, takes in Syrian refugees. To date, the Turkish border town has hosted about 35,000 refugees.
Malteser International, the Order of Malta’s humanitarian relief agency, is coordinating the mobile clinic project in Kilis.
A spokesman for the emergency relief agency said that because of the constant inflow of refugees, the health facilities in Kilis were operating at full capacity and required urgent support.
The clinic includes a psychological support unit for traumatised patients. Malteser International will train Syrians in psychosocial care, conflict transformation and peace education.
The ultimate aim is to transfer the clinic to Syria to help in the rebuilding of the medical infrastructure in the country.
The clinic is supported by German government agencies and the Order’s own resources while the project is being carried out in cooperation with the Turkish organisation International Blue Crescent.
The Order of Malta traces its history to an 11th century infirmary in Jerusalem set up by a monk to care for pilgrims and was officially recognised by Pope Paschal II 900 years ago.
Over past centuries, it has provided aid in war zones and countries hit by natural disasters.
It also set up homeless shelters and soup kitchens in Europe where the numbers of unemployed and homeless are rising due to austerity measures.