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Victims of Middle East wars recover in Jordan

The Mowasah Reconstructive Hospital provides free facial plastic surgery and other health services.

Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Among the hospital's patients is Fatah Othman Ali, who was going to a market in Kirkuk, in Iraq's Kurdish region, when a bomb exploded. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
By Federica Marsi
Published On 5 Apr 20165 Apr 2016
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Amman, Jordan – The Mowasah Reconstructive Hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman is the only facility in the region that provides free facial plastic surgery, along with other types of intervention.  

Doctors Without Borders inaugurated the hospital last year, but it has been operating for the past decade in a wing of the Jordanian Red Crescent. The five-storey building hosts more than 140 patients, nearly two-thirds of whom are Syrian.

“In other hospitals they save lives; here, we rebuild them,” said Yahya Kalilah, the hospital’s nurse director. 

Since 2006, thousands of surgeries have been conducted at the hospital, but the recovery process does not end there: Victims of facial disfigurement often fall into depression or anxiety, experts say.

“Often they think surgery will take them back in time to how they were before,” said Gwenola Ghanes, a psychosocial manager with Doctors Without Borders. “We need to help them come to terms with the fact that this is impossible.”

Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Laila, who did not want to reveal her identity for fear of repercussions, was disfigured by a bomb that also killed her husband. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
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Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Khaled says he still feels electric shocks running through his mutilated hand after an explosion in Syria's Golan Heights. On the other hand, he has tattooed the title of one of his favourite songs, Saber ou Radi (Patient and Satisfied). Despite all that has happened to him, these words are still his motto. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Many of Wael Samir al-Shouafi's friends did not survive the shelling in Taiz, Yemen, that left his body covered in burns. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Muayyad was injured by a tank shell in Daraa, Syria, while fighting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. When Syria's uprising started, he was enrolled in his first year of law school. He says he was left with no choice other than to kill or be killed. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Jamal, 11, was at a market in Baghdad when he sat on a chair and detonated the explosive device placed underneath it. The blast left his feet crooked and his face lightly scarred. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
This Yemeni patient, who is doing physiotherapy, was injured in an air strike by the Saudi-led Arab coalition. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
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Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Zarife Hussain el-Ali suffered an injury to her hand in an explosion in the countryside of Aleppo, Syria. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Najwa Ahmad el-Ghalben, a mother of six girls and five boys, was walking home when a nearby building was shelled by Israeli forces during the 2014 assault on Gaza. Doctors Without Borders staff managed to save her limb. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Mariam Abd el-Hadi el-Ghantawi, five, is undergoing physiotherapy to regain the use of her right foot, injured during an explosion in Homs, Syria. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Aiman Abou Quias and his son are hoping to alleviate burns inflicted when an explosion ripped through their hometown of Daraa, Syria. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
This man says he started fighting the Assad regime after he finished high school. He was targeted by a sniper with an exploding bullet and has since been struggling to come to terms with his disfigured face. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]
Reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan/Please Do Not Use
Nine-year-old Mohammad Naji was riding his bicycle in a Baghdad neighbourhood when an explosion propelled him through the air in July 2012. [Federica Marsi/Al Jazeera]


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