The Sudanese Doctors’ Union petitioned the parliamentary committee for health to officially declare the spread of cholera as an epidemic across the country.

Speaking to Tamazuj on Thursday, Ihsaan Fagiri, a member of the Sudanese doctors’ union, said they asked the national parliament to declare the outbreak of cholera in the country.

She further said cholera has spread across the country, while urging the Federal Ministry of Health to take its responsibility towards citizens and declare the outbreak of cholera to allow international health organisations to intervene.

Fagiri criticized the parliamentary committee for health for failing to recognize the outbreak of cholera that has already claimed lives. The Sudanese doctor pointed out that the government instead prefers to call it watery diarrhoea.

For his part, the head of the parliamentary committee for health, Saleh Juma, revealed that according to health reports, 12 states have been affected by the outbreak.

Juma pointed out that there are efforts by the relevant authorities to contain the situation, adding the health ministry has presented a report detailing the cases as watery diarrhoea, and not cholera.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) said in a statement that its members Ahmed Abu Zeid, Adil Hadatha and Aymen Ali Ismael have been arrested by security operatives for carrying out a public awareness campaign on cholera.

Health Minister Bahr Idris Abu Garda had denied reports that the outbreak that killed many people in the country is cholera.