Doctors without Borders says that limitations on medical care in the Pibor area of South Sudan could result in “significant avoidable disease and death,” after fighting and the looting of a medical centre last week.

The organization, known by its French name or acronym Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, is calling on armed groups to respect medical facilities and not to harm civilians.

MSF has also strongly condemned the looting of its medical centre last week in Pibor. Staff of the aid group evacuated their centre and took medical supplies with them to the UN base in Pibor as fighting engulfed the town, during which their centre looted.

The fighting involved bodyguards of Baba Medan, backed by SPLA soldiers, and troops of the Cobra Faction formerly headed by David Yau Yau, the ousted Greater Pibor Administrator.

“Although fighting in Pibor has subsided since the evening of 25 February, the situation remains tense, with significant military presence in the now substantially burned town,” reads a press statement distributed by the NGO on Friday.

“MSF is still providing medical care within the UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan) compound where approximately 1,000 displaced people, mostly children, are continuing to take shelter without access to food, water, shelter or sanitation.”

One patient, a child suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, has died, according to MSF.

A delivery of medical supplies and an additional MSF doctor were flown in on Thursday by helicopter to support the team’s humanitarian response.

However, MSF points out that most of the population fled to the bush, not into the UN compound. “Their condition remains unknown and MSF fears it may be very serious,” reads the statement, referring to likely medical needs for respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases and other conditions.

According to the medical group, there is also lack of surgical capacity on the ground in Pibor to provide adequate treatment to war-wounded patients.

File photo: Displaced Murle civilians during violence in 2012 (Hannah McNeish/IRIN)

Related coverage:

Dozens wounded in Pibor clashes (25 Feb.)

Shooting in Pibor forces civilians to seek shelter at UNMISS compound (24 Feb.)