BEIRUT (Reuters) - Alongside guns, pirated DVDs and foreign currency, a new type of product has appeared on war-torn Syria's thriving black market: stolen medical supplies.

The country's vast and under-funded public health system was already struggling when protesters took the streets to demand democratic rights in March 2011. President Bashar al-Assad - a trained eye doctor - sent forces to crush the revolt and 20 months later a civil war has left 40,000 dead.

The government says more than half of Syria's hospitals have now been damaged and a quarter are non-operational.

Rebels and pro-Assad militia have looted medical supplies from hospitals to use on the battlefield and opportunist criminals have stolen equipment to sell, doctors say.

"Many times, myself and other doctors have had to put our money together to buy hospital equipment because it was stolen," said a 30-year-old nurse from the Damascus suburb of Sayida Zeinab. She, like all the healthcare workers interviewed for this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect herself.

Sayida Zeinab is ostensibly controlled by the government, the nurse said, but security forces have been stretched by battles with rebels elsewhere and armed groups have exploited the light security presence to rob the hospital several times.

"We can't buy the medicine ourselves forever," she said.

Many pharmacies only supply limited goods such as over-the-counter pain killers and basic first aid -- the war has made travel around the country precarious so it is hard to resupply.

For more specific needs, residents say, a black market dealer can provide.

BRING YOUR OWN MEDICINE

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Syria's latest black market product: medicine