Dozens of wounded people are suffering without medical care at the only functioning hospital in western Upper Nile State after doctors and nurses fled owing to clashes in the area.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that “patients are dying” after doctors and nurses were forced to vacate a hospital where advanced surgeries had been taking place.

Konrad Bark, an ICRC delegate who had been working in Kodok, said that on Sunday morning, 5 July, two rockets landed very close to Kodok's hospital after fighting nearby on Saturday, wounding 11 people and killing at least two, including one patient. Consequently, ICRC staff were evacuated inland on Sunday afternoon and then to Juba on Monday.

Nonetheless, Bark and another colleague subsequently visited Kodok to assess the situation earlier this week. He said he saw many very seriously wounded people at the hospital without treatement.

“A number of war wounded and sick are continuing to arrive at the hospital whilst we are unable to be there and health staff we have been supporting in Kodok have also fled at this time so the hospital is virtually empty of personnel to provide quality care at a time when it is most needed,” he said, speaking from Malakal.

After surgical personnel left the hospital, an additional 11 patients have died. Moreover, “Forty people, mainly wounded in the fighting, have arrived at the hospital in need of medical care.” This is in addition to about 70 patients who were at the hospital before the recent clashes.

Bark mentioned that the Red Cross are unable to return today or tomorrow because of continuing confrontations. The Kodok hospital normally serves a community of tens of thousands of people, with 500 to 700 consultations per week

The ICRC calls on the warring parties to take precautions in the conduct of military operations to avoid and minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian structures.

File photo: Kodok Hospital (ICRC)