Sudanese doctors on Sunday protested against violent attacks by security forces targeting medical personnel during pro-democracy rallies following last year’s military coup.
“During every protest, they fire tear gas inside the hospital where I work,” one doctor, Houda Ahmad, said at the rally in Khartoum.
“They even attack us inside the intensive care unit,” she added at the rally, where medical personnel carried pictures of colleagues they said had been killed.
The demonstration was the latest in the crisis-hit north-east African country, where protesters in the north also blockaded roads to vent their anger against an electricity price hike announced last week, and that has since been frozen.
Sudan’s October 25 Coup led by military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule, that had started with the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir following youth-led mass protests.
During the turmoil of recent months, prime minister Abdulla Hamdok was detained and later reinstated but then quit, warning that Sudan was at a dangerous crossroads threatening its very “survival”.
According to pro-democracy medics, deadly crackdowns have claimed the lives of 64 protesters. A police general has also been killed in the street violence that has rocked Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries.
The UN World Health Organization said last week there had been 11 confirmed attacks on Sudanese health facilities since November.
The WHO said it was “also aware of the interception of ambulances, medical personnel and patients during their attempts to seek safety”.
It called for the attacks to “stop now”, pointing out that they threaten healthcare services needed more than ever during the Covid pandemic.
Covid-19 is a “grave threat” for Sudan, where 94 per cent of the population has not been vaccinated, said the WHO.
Sudan has confirmed 93,973 coronavirus infections and about 4,000 deaths. In September, it said 64 per cent of about 1,000 health workers tested had been found to be Covid-positive.
