Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced on Tuesday that it was forced to close a hospital in South Sudan following a violent looting incident, leaving a remote county without a major health facility.
MSF said its hospital in Ulang, located in Upper Nile State, was “completely destroyed” after armed men stormed the facility in April, threatened staff, and stole medicines valued at $150,000.
The organisation said the assault left the hospital “in ruins and unable to function.”
South Sudan has plunged back into conflict in recent months, as the fragile power-sharing deal between rival leaders—President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar—has broken down.
“The extensive losses from the looting have left us without the necessary resources to continue operations. We have no other option but to make the difficult decision to close the hospital,” MSF head of mission for South Sudan, Zakaria Mwatia, said.
MSF said it has also pulled its support from 13 primary health facilities in the county, warning that the decision leaves the region “without any secondary healthcare facility,” with the closest alternative more than 200 kilometres (120 miles) away.
In a separate incident in May, another MSF hospital in Old Fangak, northern South Sudan, was bombed, destroying its pharmacy and all medical supplies.
That attack followed threats by the South Sudanese army to strike the region, after blaming allies of Riek Machar for the “hijacking” of several boats and barges.
South Sudan has faced relentless instability since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
