SUDAN: MSF outraged and alarmed over repeated attacks on hospitals in El Fasher and the blockade on much-needed essentials
Repeated attacks on healthcare facilities in El Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur, are causing the already heavy death toll in the city to rise even further, while the ongoing blockage on urgently needed medical supply trucks is putting even more lives at risk, warns Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The organisation calls for all parties to respect healthcare facilities and the civilian population and to allow the urgent delivery of food and medicines to the area.
On July 29, an attack on a Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, supported by MSF, marked the tenth time a hospital had been hit in the city since the fighting escalated more than 80 days ago, on May 10. Three caregivers were killed in the attack, and 25 people were injured, including displaced people who were sheltering in a nearby mosque that was also hit. The shelling took place while El Fasher was under attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The warring parties are well aware of the location of the Saudi Hospital, and they are also well aware that it is the last remaining public hospital in the city with the capacity to treat the wounded. It has been hit four times now, and if it goes out of service like South Hospital did when they raided it in June – the fifth time it was attacked – there will be nowhere left in the city for the injured or women in need of life-saving emergency C-sections, to receive surgery. The paediatric hospital was also made non-functional in May when it was damaged by a bomb that landed close by, killing three people, including two children who were in the intensive care unit. Children in need of hospital treatment are now being treated in a small health clinic with limited equipment – or, if they have war injuries, they are being treated in a Saudi hospital.”
In addition to attacks on health facilities, MSF supply trucks have been held in Kabkabiya by the RSF for the past four weeks, which could soon leave Saudi hospitals without essential supplies.
“Our trucks left N’djamena in Chad over six weeks ago, and they should have reached El Fasher by now, but we have no idea when they will be released,” says Doyon. “El Fasher only has enough surgical kits left to treat 100 people. If the casualty numbers continue to increase at the same rate we see now, these supplies will soon run out. We desperately need our trucks to arrive. But they do not only contain supplies for Saudi hospitals – they also contain therapeutic food and medical supplies for children in Zamzam camp, where there is a catastrophic malnutrition crisis. Because these supplies have not yet arrived, we only have enough therapeutic food to last another few weeks. Already, many children there are at death's door. These supplies are needed to save their lives. If the blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted as a matter of urgency, there is going to be an even more significant death toll.”
MSF urges all parties to stop attacking hospitals in El Fasher and across Sudan, and the RSF to release its trucks from Kabkabiya so that life-saving medical supplies can be brought to Saudi hospital and the MSF facilities in Zamzam camp. MSF also urges the warring parties to enable the swift arrival of all humanitarian supplies and convoys to El Fasher and Zamzam, where they are vital for preventing the further deterioration of the population's health.
Notes to editors
The malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp
In January, a rapid mortality assessment conducted in Zamzam found that a child was dying every two hours.
A mass nutrition screening of over 63,000 people carried out in March and April in Zamzam found that a third of children under five were suffering from malnutrition, and a similar figure was found among pregnant and breastfeeding women. For both these population groups, these findings were double the emergency threshold of 15 per cent, indicating that there is a life-threatening malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp.
With the current conflict, it is very difficult to obtain updated information, but given the prior malnutrition rates, the increased displacement of people, and the new difficulties created by heavy fighting in accessing food due to security concerns and market disruptions, the situation is likely to be alarming. It remains the case that a massive scale-up in the response is needed.
A timeline of the attacks on hospitals in El Fasher
Babiker Nahar Paediatric Hospital: Children in El Fasher lost access to specialist treatment when an airstrike carried out by the SAF on 11 May landed 50 metres from the paediatric hospital (called Babiker Nahar), which was supported by MSF. This led to the collapse of the roof above the intensive care unit (ICU) and, the death of two children who were receiving treatment there, as well as the death of a caregiver. One caregiver was also injured and lost their leg.
Saudi Hospital: on 19 May, Saudi Hospital was damaged by shelling (this was before MSF supported it)
South Hospital: First, on 25 May, a mortar landed on the ante-natal care unit, killing one person and injuring eight patients and their families
South Hospital: The next day, on 26 May, a shell landed inside the hospital and injured three more people, while fragments from the explosion broke the windows of the delivery room and of the ambulance. Three other shells landed outside the hospital.
South Hospital: The third incident took place on Friday, 31 May, when shelling again impacted South Hospital
South Hospital: The fourth took place on Monday, 3 June, when shelling and shooting impacted the hospital; one patient was killed, one was wounded, and the water tank was damaged, affecting water flow in the hospital.
South Hospital: On 8 June, a fifth attack took place: RSF soldiers entered the hospital, opened fire, and looted the facility – including taking an MSF ambulance. Thankfully, most patients had already been evacuated when this happened. The remaining patients and staff – including MSF staff – escaped the scene, and all activities in the hospital ended.
Saudi Hospital: On the night of Friday, 21 June, the pharmacy of the MSF-supported Saudi Hospital in El Fasher was hit by shelling from the RSF. A pharmacist was killed while on her shift, and the pharmacy building was damaged.
Saudi Hospital: Saudi Hospital was hit again on Thursday, 27 June, when a bomb landed inside the hospital compound, breaking the window glass and damaging the water tank.
Two bombs also landed just 20 metres outside the facility. A fourth landed 50 metres from MSF's office.
Saudi hospital: on Monday, 29 July, two shells hit Saudi Hospital, killing three people and injuring 25.
Read more about our activities in Sudan
Nkosi Mahlangu
About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).
In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.
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