A journalistic investigation revealed that the number of Syrian doctors decreased by half between 2010-2020 due to the repression of the Syrian regime.
The investigation, prepared by Loujain Haj Youssef and Mark Lee Hunter, and published in collaboration with the Arab Reporters Network for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), talked about about 15,000 Syrian doctors who left their country for asylum countries.
The investigation stated: "No host country has documented their presence in its community, and the announced and official numbers for this audience are incorrect and sometimes illogical."
The investigation noted that 30,000 doctors worked in the country in 2010, with their number reduced by almost half in 2020, to 15,868 doctors.
The investigation determined that only a quarter of the 30,000 doctors counted in 2010 continued to practice the profession until 2020.
By 2021, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) counted the "arrest and/or disappearance" of 3,364 health care workers, and the killing of 948 people in attacks on medical facilities, 91 percent of which were attributed to regime forces and Russia.
According to a report published by the International Rescue Committee in 2021, about 70% of health sector workers left the country, while the ratio currently stands at one doctor for every 10,000 Syrians. In an attempt to compensate for the shortage, workers in this field are forced to work more than 80 hours weekly, according to the same report.