“WHO is concerned that untrained individuals could mishandle such infectious specimens, thereby infecting themselves and then others,” he said. The laboratory contains measles, cholera and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis pathogens, vaccine-derived poliovirus and other hazardous materials, he said, calling all parties to vacate the facilities. WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al-Mandhari, said the occupation of hospitals in Khartoum and Sudan’s central public health laboratory by fighting parties had disrupted access to essential health care and led to an “instant halt to the testing of critically important laboratory samples”. The occupation of public health facilities by fighters further raised the alarm this week. Atiya said 11 medical staff and students had been killed in the violence. A fragile US-brokered ceasefire which came into effect Tuesday was due to end later today (Thursday), with negotiations ongoing.Īfter ten days of fighting, the number of victims exceeded 450 dead and more than 4,000 wounded, according to the WHO. The shortage of staff and medical supplies and constant power outages threaten to shut down the remaining functioning hospitals, while the number of victims of the ongoing clashes continues to rise, according to Atiya.įighting erupted on 15 April in the capital Khartoum between the army and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

“Our drug stocks are depleted, health institutions have been destroyed, and our medical teams have been killed in battle.” “We are in a state of total collapse,” said Atiya Abdullah Atiya, a key member of the syndicate, in a phone call to SciDev.Net. In total, 13 of the hospitals were bombed, while 19 others forcibly evacuated. Services have ceased in more than 70 per cent of hospitals in areas hit by the clashes in a number of Sudanese states, Sudan’s doctors’ syndicate said Tuesday (25 April). Health and relief institutions say the conflict threatens to become a humanitarian catastrophe as tens of thousands flee for safety to neighbouring South Sudan, Chad, Egypt and Ethiopia amid intense fighting between the army and militia. Sudan’s health system is disintegrating under the weight of the fighting raging in the country since mid-April, doctors and health officials warn, with the damage expected to last for decades.

The syndicate project phone number