by Frédéric Burnand in Geneva, swissinfo.ch

In the first in-depth report of its kind, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has looked at the dangers facing medical staff in conflict zones.

Libyan hospitals faced staff shortages when health works fled the uprising (Reuters)

The report’s lead author, Robin Coupland, has spent seven years working as a war surgeon, and tells swissinfo.ch that basic respect for the neutrality of the Swiss-run ICRC and the Geneva Conventions is eroding.

“Healthcare in danger: making the case”, published this month, cites bombing attacks on medical centres and the prospect of jail as just some of the problems facing humanitarian workers.

“In Sri Lanka and in Somalia hospitals are bombed. In Libya and Lebanon shots are fired at ambulances. In Bahrain, medical staff are brought before the courts, after treating demonstrators. And in Afghanistan the injured languish for hours in vehicles held up at border check points,” says the report.

Elsewhere, from Colombia to Gaza, the neutral status of medical operations, the staff and vehicles is ignored, as they come under attack or are taken for military gains, he says.