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July 10, 2024 (Khartoum) – Doctors Without Borders (MSF) decided on Wednesday to withdraw its teams from Turkish hospitals in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)-controlled area south of the capital, Khartoum, due to increasing violations against its staff.
The conflict, which has been ongoing since April 15, 2023, has caused 70% to 80% of medical facilities to cease operations due to bombardment, occupation, shortages of supplies, water and electricity outages, and staff shortages.
“More than a year of violence in and around the Turkish hospital, including threats to the lives of our staff, led us to decide to evacuate the hospital,” MSF said in a statement received by Sudan Tribune.
MSF noted that they were able to provide direct life-saving treatment in Turkish hospitals for 14 months, despite deliberate obstacles imposed by the warring parties.
The organization revealed that staff working in Turkish hospitals have been repeatedly harassed inside the hospitals and on their way to and from get off work, and many have even been threatened with arrest.
MSF reported that one staff member was arrested by armed men inside the hospital, taken to an unknown location and beaten.
The suspension of MSF’s work in the Turkish hospital is the fifth such operation in Sudan this year. Previously, the organization had suspended work in Bashar Hospital, Wad Madani Hospital in Al Jazira State, South Hospital and Babik Nahar Pediatric Center in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State.
“The situation in Turkish hospitals in areas controlled by MSF has become unacceptable,” said Claire Nicolet, MSF’s emergency response manager for Sudan.
She reported that there had been multiple incidents of violence inside and outside the hospital, with the lives of MSF staff being repeatedly threatened.
Nicolette added: “On the night of June 17 and 18, as dozens of wounded fighters were taken to Turkish hospitals, our team was awakened by heavy Kalashnikov rifle fire into their bedrooms. This violence against our staff is unacceptable.”
“Hospitals and health-care facilities should be protected and respected by all warring parties as places of refuge for the sick and wounded, and where medical staff can provide care in safety,” Nicolette continued. “They must not put their own lives at risk in order to save the lives of others.”
Nicolet noted that the organization’s teams at the hospital are physically and mentally exhausted due to the blockade imposed by Sudanese authorities since September last year, which has prevented the movement of medical supplies and humanitarian workers to areas controlled by the rapid security forces.
Surgery, antenatal and postnatal care for pregnant women, therapeutic feeding for severely malnourished children, and the neonatal ward will cease after MSF evacuates the hospital, even though it is the only functioning one in the entire Khartoum state.
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