SUDAN: MSF supports 183 wounded in North Darfur; medical teams and wounded trapped as intense fighting continues
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Since Saturday 15 April, intense fighting has been taking place between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan. Many people, including healthcare workers, are currently trapped. Where we can provide medical care, the situation is dire: Over the past 48 hours, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the international humanitarian medical organisation, has received a total of 183 wounded patients at the hospital it supports in El Fasher, North Darfur – 25 have died from their injuries.
Cyrus Paye, Project Coordinator for MSF in El Fasher, said: “The majority of the wounded are civilians who were caught in the crossfire – among them are many children. They have extremely serious injuries and, until Saturday afternoon, there was no surgical capacity in this hospital. All other hospitals in North Darfur have had to close – either due to their proximity to the fighting, or due to the inability of staff to get to the facilities because of the violence. This meant that there was nowhere for us to refer patients to for treatment. As a result, 25 people died from their injuries in the first 48 hours of the conflict. However, on Saturday afternoon, a small team of surgeons from the hospitals that had to close began carrying out surgical interventions in the hospital. So far, they have carried out six major surgeries on people wounded by the violence.
“However, the hospital is rapidly running out of medical supplies to treat survivors. It is running out of medicines and blood. There has also been a power outage in the city since the beginning of the fighting, and fuel supplies for the hospital generator are also running low. We have received a list of surgical items that the surgical team urgently requires, and we are seeking a safe corridor to transport these to the hospital using our two ambulances. Due to the conflict, the airport has been closed since Saturday. It is vital that it is re-opened to bring in additional medical supplies and possibly an MSF surgical team to support the surgeons currently at work. Without these vital supplies, there will be further loss of life.”
In the country, especially in Khartoum, Darfur, North Kordofan and Gedaref states, MSF teams face serious challenges. MSF premises in Nyala, South Darfur, have been looted – including one of our warehouses. In Khartoum, most teams are trapped by the ongoing heavy fighting and cannot access warehouses to deliver vital medical supplies to hospitals. Even ambulances are being turned back. They are not permitted to pass to retrieve the dead's bodies from the streets – or to transport those who have been injured to hospital.
We have contacted Sudanese medical teams in Khartoum and other parts of the country where wounded patients are being received. Many have been on duty for many hours, providing lifesaving care in extremely difficult circumstances, despite the impact of the situation on them and their own families.
We are ready to provide supplies and medical personnel to key functional health facilities that need support, but it is too dangerous for anyone to move within Khartoum and other cities. Many people also cannot reach any of the open health facilities due to the ongoing violence and fear that they will be risking their safety.
MSF is making an urgent call for civilians to be protected from the ongoing indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks that are taking place. We urge all parties to the conflict to guarantee the safety for medical staff and patients so that they can access healthcare facilities without fearing for their lives. We additionally request that all parties to the conflict ensure that all health facilities – including hospitals, clinics, warehouses and ambulances – are protected. They should never be a target. MSF in Sudan provides life-saving and impartial medical care to all those who need it, based on medical need alone, but currently, we cannot move due to the intensity of the conflict. We reiterate our plea for all those participating in the violence to respect medical personnel, health facilities and ambulances and to spare the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers.
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.
Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
- SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
- Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate
