Repeated attacks on healthcare facilities in El Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur State, are causing the already heavy death toll in the city to rise even further, while the ongoing blockage on urgently needed medical supply trucks is putting even more lives at risk, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
According to a press statement on Thursday, the organization called for all parties to respect healthcare facilities and the civilian population and to allow the urgent delivery of food and medicines to the area.
“On July 29, an attack on Saudi hospital in El Fasher, supported by MSF, marked the tenth time a hospital had been hit in the city since the fighting escalated more than 80 days ago, on May 10,” the statement reads in part. “Three caregivers were killed in the attack and 25 people were injured, including displaced people who were sheltering in a nearby mosque that was also hit. The shelling took place while El Fasher was under attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”
The medical charity said that since the fighting intensified almost 12 weeks ago, over 2,170 wounded people have been treated at MSF-supported hospitals in El Fasher, and over 300 people have passed away from their injuries. As more and more wounded continue to flood into Saudi hospital and MSF’s trucks continue to be held by the RSF in the town of Kabkabiya, medical supplies are rapidly running out, putting the life-saving activities even more at risk.
“We do not know if hospitals are being intentionally targeted, but the incident on Monday shows that the belligerents are not taking any precautions to spare them,” said Stéphane Doyon, head of MSF’s emergency response in Sudan. “They are not making any efforts to prevent the death of civilians or to ensure the protection of patients and medical staff. As a result, many more lives are being lost.”
At least nine people have been killed in the 10 attacks on hospitals in El Fasher over the past 80 days, and at least 38 have been injured.
“The warring parties are well aware of the location of the Saudi hospital, and they are also well aware that it is the last remaining public hospital in the city with the capacity to treat the wounded. It has been hit four times now, and if it goes out of service like South Hospital did when they raided it in June – the fifth time it was attacked – there will be nowhere left in the city for the injured, or women in need of life-saving emergency C-sections, to receive surgery,” the statement said. “The pediatric hospital was also made non-functional in May when it was damaged by a bomb that landed close by, killing three people, including two children who were in the intensive care unit. Children in need of hospital treatment are now being treated in a small health clinic with limited equipment – or, if they have war injuries, they are being treated in Saudi hospital.”
In addition to attacks on health facilities, MSF supply trucks have been held in Kabkabiya by the RSF for the past four weeks, which could soon leave Saudi hospital without essential supplies.
“Our trucks left N’djamena in Chad over six weeks ago and they should have reached El Fasher by now, but we have no idea when they will be released,” says Doyon. “In El Fasher, we only have enough surgical kits left to treat 100 people. If the casualty numbers continue to increase at the same rate as we are seeing now, these supplies will soon run out. We desperately need our trucks to arrive. But they do not only contain supplies for Saudi hospital-they also contain therapeutic food and medical supplies for children in Zamzam camp, where there is a catastrophic malnutrition crisis. Because these supplies have not yet arrived, we only have enough therapeutic food left to last another few weeks. Already, many children there are at death’s door. These supplies are needed to save their lives. If the blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted as a matter of urgency, there is going to be an even greater death toll.”
MSF urges all parties to stop attacking hospitals in El Fasher and across Sudan, and the RSF to release its trucks from Kabkabiya so that life-saving medical supplies can be brought to Saudi hospital and the MSF facilities in Zamzam camp. MSF also urges the warring parties to enable the swift arrival of all humanitarian supplies and convoys to El Fasher and Zamzam, where they are vital for preventing the further deterioration of the health of the population.