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Sudan: Doctors Flee El-Fasher, Treat Wounded in Tents
24 Nov
Summary
- Health workers escaped El-Fasher, now treat patients in makeshift tents.
- Doctors face death, captivity, or ransom for providing care.
- Over 285 attacks on healthcare documented since the war began.
Health professionals, survivors of El-Fasher's fall, are now working in makeshift tents at Sudan's Al-Dabbah camp. They provide essential care despite severe resource limitations and their own psychological distress from fleeing the besieged city. The clinic, assembled by around 60 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, uses borrowed ambulances as mobile units and plastic chairs as examination tables.
Medical personnel face extreme danger, with identifying as a doctor potentially leading to "death, captivity or ransom" by paramilitary forces. Many treated wounded individuals secretly during their escape, often without adequate supplies. This highlights the deliberate targeting of healthcare workers and facilities throughout Sudan's protracted conflict, with the WHO documenting hundreds of attacks.
The situation underscores the dire state of healthcare in Sudan, where the conflict has led to massive displacement and humanitarian crises. Efforts to provide care in Al-Dabbah are a testament to the resilience of medical staff amidst overwhelming challenges, while the broader conflict continues to devastate the nation's infrastructure and population.
