Intense fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been taking place in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan since Saturday, April 15. Many people, including medical personnel, are currently trapped. Where we are able to provide medical care, we see a difficult situation. Within 72 hours, Médecins Sans Frontières' teams admitted 183 wounded patients at the El Fasher hospital we support in North Darfur. Twenty-five people died as a result of their injuries.
- Most of the injured are civilians, including many children who were trapped between the warring sides. They have very serious injuries, and by Sunday afternoon surgical care at the hospital was not available. All other hospitals in North Darfur had to close because they were close to the fighting, or staff were unable to reach the facility because of the ongoing clashes. This meant that we had nowhere to refer patients for treatment. As a result, 11 people died as a result of their injuries in the first 48 hours of the conflict. On Sunday afternoon, a small surgical team resumed operations. Six major surgeries were performed on patients injured by the violence, says Cyrus Paye, project coordinator of Doctors Without Borders in El Fasher.
- The hospital is rapidly running out of medical supplies to treat rescued people. Medicines and blood supplies are running out. The city has also been without electricity since the fighting began, and fuel supplies for the hospital generator are running low. We have received a list of items that the surgical team urgently needs, and are looking for a safe way to transport them to the hospital with our two ambulances. Due to the conflict, the airport has been closed since Saturday. It's crucial that it reopens so we can bring in additional medical supplies and, if possible, a Doctors Without Borders surgical team to support the surgeons currently working on the ground. Without these vital supplies, more deaths will occur," explains Cyrus Paye.
In other parts of the country, particularly Khartoum, Darfur, North Kordofan and Al Kadarif, Doctors Without Borders teams are facing serious difficulties. Doctors Without Borders' facilities in Nijali, South Darfur, including one of our warehouses, have been looted. In Khartoum, most of the teams have been trapped by the ongoing heavy fighting, and staff are unable to access warehouses to deliver essential medical supplies to hospitals. Even ambulances are being turned back. They are not being allowed through so that they can pick up the bodies of the dead from the streets or transport the wounded to the hospital.
Médecins Sans Frontières staff have been in contact with Sudanese medical teams in Khartoum and other parts of the country, where the wounded are being received. Many medical personnel were on duty for hours at a time, saving the lives of patients in very dramatic circumstances, endangering them and their families.
Médecins Sans Frontières stands ready to deliver supplies and direct medical personnel to the main medical facilities still in operation, but for now it is too dangerous to move within Khartoum and other cities. Due to the eruption of violence and fear, many people in need of help are also unable to get to medical facilities.
Doctors Without Borders is calling for the protection of civilians from disproportionately violent attacks.
- We call on all warring parties to guarantee the safety of medical personnel and patients, allowing them to get to medical facilities without fear for their lives," says Draginja Nadaždin, director general of Doctors Without Borders in Poland. - We demand that the parties to the conflict ensure the protection of medical infrastructure: hospitals, clinics, warehouses or ambulances. Medical facilities must never be targeted. Doctors Without Borders in Sudan brings life-saving, impartial aid to all who need it, guided only by medical needs. Now, however, due to the intensity of the fighting, we cannot move. We reiterate our call to all warring parties to respect medical personnel and medical infrastructure, and to respect the lives of civilians, male and female humanitarian workers.
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