TEHRAN – Some 360 health infrastructures have been so far destroyed during the US-Israeli airstrikes, started on February 28, the head of Emergency Medical Services Organization has said.

The aggressions have so far led to the martyrdom of 261 women, 216 children under the age of 18, and 17 aged less than five years, Mehr news agency quoted Jafar Miadfar as saying.

Among those wounded, 4,695 were women, 1,779 were below 18, and 121 were children less than five years old. The youngest was a month-old baby, and the oldest was around one hundred years old.

Moreover, 24 medical workers have lost their lives, and 116 were wounded in airstrikes.

A total of 323 medical and pharmaceutical centers, 763 schools and educational premises, 18 educational and academic centers, 20 Red Crescent buildings, three rescue helicopters, 46 ambulances, and 48 rescue vehicles were also damaged.

Even the emergency call center was not secure from strikes, being attacked by the US and Israel. The center is responsible for receiving emergency calls, dispatching rescuers, and managing operations. In critical situations, the center plays a large part in monitoring relief operations. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has warned that the conflict in Iran, and the region, is impacting the delivery of health services and the safety of health workers, patients, and civilians present at health facilities.

“Multiple attacks on health have been reported in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in recent days amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian called Thursday on international health organizations and doctors worldwide to respond to what he described as a “crime against humanity” following attacks on medical facilities in Iran.

“What message does attacking hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the Pasteur Institute (of Iran) as a medical research center in Iran convey?” Pezeshkian wrote on X.

“As a specialist physician, I urge WHO, the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and physicians worldwide to respond to this crime against humanity,” he added.