Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has had to stop providing vital support in Wad Madani due to obstructions and harassment

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was forced to stop working at Madani Teaching Hospital in Sudan due to harassment and obstruction. Over three months, our teams at Madani Teaching Hospital faced repeated security incidents, including looting of the hospital; Médecins Sans Frontières calls on warring parties in Sudan to stop violating health facilities and ensure the safety of medical staff.

Médecins Sans Frontières was forced to halt work and withdraw staff from the Madani Teaching Hospital, the only functioning hospital for hundreds of thousands of people in need of urgent medical attention in the capital of Sudan’s Al Jazirah state.

This difficult decision comes after more than three months of relentless challenges trying to ensure care at the hospital. Amid increasing insecurity, we have been unable to bring new personnel and medical supplies to the region due to denials of travel permits, and have faced repeated security incidents such as looting and harassment that have impacted our ability to provide medical care.

We call on the warring parties to stop violating health facilities, ensure the safety of medical personnel, and issue the necessary travel authorizations for our personnel and supplies.

“The health system and basic services in Al Jazirah state have collapsed as a result of the fighting and the systematic blockage of the flow of supplies and personnel to the area,” said Mari Carmen Viñoles, Médecins Sans Frontières mission director in Sudan.

“Doctors Without Borders was the only international NGO that provided support in Wad Madani. Our departure leaves a deep void for people who struggle to access healthcare and live in a very unsafe environment without transportation to get around.”

When the fighting reached Wad Madani – the capital of Al Jazirah state, located about 136 kilometers southeast of Khartoum – in mid-December, at least 630,000 people were forced to flee Al Jazirah to other parts of Sudan – many of them already displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration had been.

At the end of the month, MSF evacuated all staff from Wad Madani after the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the town, which had until then been controlled by the government-led Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

On January 13, we were able to send a team back to Wad Madani, where several hundred thousand people remained, once one of the most populous cities in Sudan.

Since then, our teams have been supporting the emergency department, operating room, maternity ward, inpatient department – including pediatrics, therapeutic nutrition center and adult and surgical wards – and pharmacy at Madani Teaching Hospital.

We also provided psychological support and support for sexual violence. We also receive training, salary incentives for 240 Ministry of Health (MoH) staff and food for patients.

Between mid-January and the end of April, MSF conducted almost 10,000 outpatient consultations – malaria was the most common disease treated -, 2,142 antenatal consultations and cared for 16 survivors of sexual violence. During this period there was a constant flow of patients to the emergency department, with a total of 2,981 patients admitted. A significant number of these admissions involved physical injuries resulting from the ongoing violence.

MSF has now stopped all support to the facility and we have relocated our staff to safer areas in Sudan. Over the last three months, our team and supported Ministry of Health staff have repeatedly faced security incidents either carried out or tolerated by the RSF, including looting of the hospital, stolen vehicles and arrest of staff, among numerous other incidents.

Since January, Sudanese authorities have persistently refused travel permits to bring new personnel and medical and logistical supplies to the city.

“Although the humanitarian and medical needs in Wad Madani and Al Jazirah are immense, we have no choice but to immediately stop our work and leave the area,” says Viñoles.

“The deliberate administrative blockades, the increasing uncertainty and the constant violation of the hospital as a neutral space made it impossible to continue providing services.”

Médecins Sans Frontières stands ready to once again support the Madani Teaching Hospital in supporting the people of Al Jazirah if the warring parties commit to respecting our medical work and ensuring safe and uninterrupted access to the area.

We call on the RSF to stop violating medical facilities and ensure the safety of Ministry of Health and Médecins Sans Frontières personnel. We also call on the Sudanese government-led military and civilian authorities to issue the necessary travel authorizations for our personnel and supplies.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).