Doctors at 65 Sudanese hospitals now on strike

Medical doctors working at government hospitals in Sudan continue their strike despite attempts by the authorities to break their protest action. Colleagues in other hospitals joined them on Friday. Of 65 state hospitals in the country now only the emergency sections are manned.

Doctors downed tools in various state hospitals in the country during the past months, in protest against repeated attacks by relatives of patients as well as armed robberies. However on Thursday morning, the doctors of 46 hospitals, including 21 in Khartoum state, renewed their strike.

The doctors also demand better salaries and working conditions. They raised banners at the hospital walls saying “We are striking for you, people of Sudan, so that you will be treated while lying in bed instead on the ground”, and “We need oxygen in the hospital”.

The Central Committee of Doctors announced in a report on Friday that medics of 19 more state hospitals, including the Port Sudan Hospital and the hospital of En Nahud in West Kordofan, joined the strike.

The Committee stressed that the strike will only be lifted after the provision of basic equipment to the hospitals and guaranteed protection of the medical staff.

Abdellateef Ashmeig, chairman of the State Doctors Union, said in a press conference in Khartoum on Friday that most of the government hospitals suffer from “administrative imbalances”.

He further stated that “recently 16 attacks on medical personnel have been recorded. Members of the army, security, or the police were responsible for most of the assaults.”

‘Well-protected’

According to Sumaya Idris, State Minister of the Sudanese Health Ministry, however, “the partial work stoppage of the doctors does not affect the work flow in the hospitals in Khartoum”. She said that the doctors’ demands are related to insurance matters, and that ‘they are well protected in coordination with the relevant authorities”.

During a visit to a number of hospitals in Khartoum state on Friday, she told reporters that the work at the state hospitals is going as usual, and the basic requirements are all available.

Immediately after the strike began on Thursday morning, the Khartoum state Health Ministry mobilised medical professionals attached to the police, military institutions, and regular forces to fill the gaps in the state’s hospitals.

Form 8

In an attempt to ease the protests, the Minister of Justice, Awad El Hassan, issued a decree cancelling the requirement of Form 8 *. However, the chairman of the Sudanese Doctors’ Union, Dr Ahmed El Sheikh, told Radio Dabanga that “this does not offer more protection to the doctors in the hospitals. The decision does not have any effect on the strike”.

He further said that “If the basic and fundamental issues for the doctors are not addressed, the protest will enter its next phase”.

Intimidations

Medical sources informed Radio Dabanga that the authorities “have launched an indiscriminate social media campaign of lies and rumours after their intimidations and threats failed to dissuade the doctors from their protest”.

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) has warned the press not to report about the strike, they said.

* Form 8: In Sudan, medical evidence of an assault used to be admitted solely via the so-called Form 8. It could be issued only by police stations, or approved hospitals and clinics. Critics considered Form 8 “glaringly inadequate”, as sufficient medical evidence is often very difficult to obtain.