Syria's Health Ministry denied Wednesday allegations by the human rights organization Amnesty International that patients are being abused in hospitals in some areas of the country as part of a clampdown on pro-democracy protests dpa reported
"The report is full of contradictions and fabrications," the state-run Syrian News Agency SANA quoted a statement by the ministry as saying.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International accused Syria of turning hospitals "into instruments of repression" against pro-democracy protesters.
The ministry said that such allegations "aim to distort the reputation of the Syrian health sector and create a state of lack of confidence in the national hospitals to serve biased purposes."
According to UN estimates more than 3,000 people, including at least 187 children, have been killed in Syria since an uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began in mid-March.