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  • Title: A new medical mission to El Salvador.
    Author: Geiger J, Eisenberg C, Gloyd S, Quiroga J, Schlenker T, Scrimshaw N, Devin J.
    Journal: N Engl J Med; 1989 Oct 19; 321(16):1136-40. PubMed ID: 2797078.
    Abstract:
    El Salvador has a long history of human right abuses and a record of violations of medical neutrality and international humanitarian law. A civil war broke out between the Salvadorian armed forces and a guerrilla opposition, the Farabundo Marti Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) in 1979. To investigate and report on specific allegations of abuses of human rights and medical neutrality by both sides in the conflict, a medical mission visited El Salvador in early June, 1989. It was sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights. The delegation consisted of 5 physicians, an attorney, and an observer from the staff of the Select Committee on Hunger of the US House of Representatives. The mission explored violations of medical neutrality. It investigated the reported obstruction of civil health personnel and of the delivery of supplies to people living in congested rural areas, refugees, and displaced persons, allegations of assault, intimidation, harassment, and torture of health workers; reports of attacks on hospitals and clinics; and the impact of 19 years civil war on El Salvador's medical institutions. The Salvadorian public health system has been seriously damaged by the civil war. A network of "community health promoters"--Salvadorians trained to give simple prevention and curative care--has begun. This network serves primarily those in contested areas. Nearly all roads in rural areas are controlled by military road blocks. Health workers have reported military interference with vaccination campaigns. The Salvadorian army harasses people they believe support the FMLN and obstructs their access to the communities. In February, 1989, the Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadorian army attacked FMLN medical personnel. The Nongovernmental Human Rights Commission of El Salvador claims to have identified 40 different kinds of torture. Medical education has suffered from budgetary restrictions and from the hostility of the Salvadorian government.
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