SYRIAN NGO REACHES OUT TO EMBASSY DAMASCUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 000016 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/FO, EEB/EX, EEB/ESC/TFS, L/EB; COMMERCE FOR BIS/SONDERMAN/CHRISTINO NSC FOR SHAPIRO/MCDERMOTT TREASURY FOR HAJJAR/CURTIN PARIS FOR NOBLES LONDON FOR LORD E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2020 TAGS: ECIN ECON KPAO PREL SOCI SY SUBJECT: SYRIAN NGO REACHES OUT TO EMBASSY DAMASCUS Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Chuck Hunter for reasons 1.4(b,d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) BASMA, the Children with Cancer Support Association, requested Embassy staff assistance in overcoming sanctions that prohibited the organization's ability to import badly needed equipment. Their proactive efforts marked a significant departure from Syrian NGOs' hesitancy to interact with the Embassy for the last several years. The Embassy's direct involvement in helping BASMA to resolve this issue would serve as a useful test case to determine whether Commerce is indeed looking more favorably upon certain license requests. Perhaps more importantly, BASMA enjoys tremendous support inside Syria and USG assistance to the organization would likely be viewed favorably here. End summary. -------------- BASMA's Pediatric Oncology Programs -------------- ¶2. (SBU) BASMA was officially ratified and recognized by the Syrian Government in April 2006 as an independent non-governmental organization to support children with cancer and their families throughout Syria. (Note: It is one of the few civil society organizations operated successfully outside the First Lady's umbrella organization, The Syria Trust for Development. End note.) BASMA's founders identified a gap regarding pediatric cancer treatment and created the NGO to provide medical services, supplies and the development of medical staff in pediatric oncology. BASMA opened a modern pediatric oncology clinic in al-Bayrouni Hospital in May 2009. The unit was established with a $230,000 grant from Gulfsands Petroleum Company. BASMA's $50,000 monthly operating budget is largely underwritten by local and international donations with Gulfsands guaranteeing $10,000 a month for the unit's first year of operation. ¶3. (SBU) On a site visit, Emboffs met with Mayya al-Assaad (BASMA Chairwoman),Dr. Chadan Naji (BASMA Vice Chairwoman), and Dr. Oumayma Fawaz, BASMA's chief pediatric oncologist. A bright spot of hope in an otherwise gloomy Syrian hospital, the BASMA unit looked like the pediatric wing in any American hospital - nurses wore colorful scrubs and the walls were festooned with drawings from the children. The five-room, 16-bed unit included four isolation beds, employed 39 staff, was well-organized and clean. The nurses appeared attentive to patients. Poverty and need showed on the faces of BASMA's patients, and children as young as five moved slowly through the ward dragging IV drip bags behind them. To date, the unit has treated 90 in-patient pediatric cancer cases and provided support to over 1600 pediatric oncology cases throughout Syria. The 16 beds in the unit are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Service to patients is provided at no cost to the families. The pediatric oncology unit is only one of a dozen different pediatric cancer-related programs BASMA administers. To provide additional support to families, BASMA also created a half-way house to assist impoverished parents whose children are undergoing long-term treatment at the hospital -- previously parents slept on the street in front of the hospital. BASMA also underwrites the transportation to their home villages for children who die under their care, an expense parents cannot afford, giving both the parents and the child dignity. -------------- Sanctions Issues -------------- ¶4. (SBU) BASMA informed us of two specific instances in which they have encountered difficulties relating to U.S. sanctions against Syria. Last year, the Syrian-American Women's Association held a gala in Washington, D.C. that raised $500,000 to support BASMA's programs. BASMA had difficulty in getting the money transferred from the U.S. According to Dr. Naji, after paperwork requesting the funds be transferred to Syria was submitted to the Treasury Department, it took eight months and the involvement of a lawyer in the U.S. to get the transfer cleared and the money sent. The Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. trumpeted the eventual transfer of funds to BASMA in February 2009 at a press conference in DAMASCUS 00000016 002 OF 002 Damascus, citing it as further evidence of the Obama Administration's decision to loosen sanctions on Syria. ¶5. (SBU) Second, Drs. Naji and Fawaz decided to purchase Baxter Infusion pumps to administer chemotherapy in the BASMA wing in al-Bayrouni Hospital and in a planned out-patient chemotherapy room under construction at the same hospital. Baxter pumps would allow for efficient rapid-infusion of chemotherapy drugs. (Note: Without these infusion pumps, children must receive their chemo through IV drips -- a process which takes hours and results in the loss of some of the precious, costly drugs. End note.) BASMA told us that the greatest challenge they face is overcoming U.S. export license restrictions. BASMA has tried for several months through Baxter International's Lebanese representative to acquire 16 Baxter infusion pumps. However, according to Baxter's sales agent, the company declined to sell BASMA the pumps citing U.S. economic sanctions against Syria. Commerce/BIS contacts told us informally the potential export had not been raised with them. Dr. Naji told embassy staff recently BASMA was now dealing directly with Baxter on this issue but would ask for our assistance to intervene with Baxter if problems arose. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Future collaboration with BASMA affords us an opportunity to demonstrate that the Administration is making good on its June commitment to look more favorably on certain licensing requests. Our site visit to their facility confirmed that BASMA is an effective organization, headed by competent, professional staff. BASMA's programs are designed to provide assistance to those most in need - pediatric cancer patients from poor families. Our ability to assist BASMA, should the organization ask us to do so, in overcoming sanctions issues would be instrumental in forging a useful future relationship with this impressive NGO and showing that U.S. sanctions are not harming Syria's most vulnerable. HUNTER