Doctors Without Borders Withdraw From Functional Hospital in Sudan after Attacks

Health workers from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) welcome patients in Sudan

Health workers from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were forced on Thursday to suspend work and withdraw from a Sudanese hospital serving hundreds of thousands of people in Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah state, which is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.

The medical humanitarian organization announced it has suspended work at the Madani Teaching Hospital, the only functional hospital for hundreds of thousands of people in dire need of medical assistance.

Already 15 public and private hospitals have gone out of service across the country.

“This extremely difficult decision comes after more than three months of relentless challenges trying to provide care at the hospital, including growing insecurity and repeated security incidents, such as looting and harassment,” MSF said.

The charity group called on the warring parties to stop violating health facilities and guarantee the safety of medical personnel.

The Madani Teaching Hospital is considered the largest in Al Jazirah state. It offers daily medical services to thousands of patients, particularly surgeries and dialysis.

In a report on the health situation in Al Jazira state, the Sudan Doctors’ Union said last Sunday that artificial respirators were stolen from the intensive care department, in addition to operational equipment from the orthopedic department.

The Union said part of the looted equipment was moved by the RSF to the capital, Khartoum.

It then accused military authorities of blocking the delivery of medical supplies from the eastern city of Port Sudan to Wad Madani, and the RSF of looting health equipment from the state.

In Al Jazirah, many medical facilities face major shortages of medical supplies and lack essential utilities such as water and electricity, exacerbating the suffering of patients.

MSF has helped reopen several hospitals in the area months after the RSF controlled the state in mid-December 2023. But the medical facilities are still in dire need of supplies, medicines and electricity.

The charity group’s decision to suspend its work in Wad Madani would definitely worsen the health situation in Al Jarizah, medical sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hundreds of thousands of citizens stranded in the state’s towns and villages face difficulty in reaching medical facilities in large cities. Some of them will now be forced to travel to states outside the 'war belt' in the east of the country to receive treatment,” the sources said.

A doctor working at a hospital in Al Jazirah, and who asked to remain anonymous, said the limited number of hospitals operating in the state lack the simplest medical equipment and cannot treat the rising cases of bullet wounds.