MSF: ‘North Darfur aid blockade risks children’s lives’

Delays and blockades in delivering life-saving medical supplies and therapeutic food to North Darfur are putting the lives of thousands of children at risk in North Darfur, according to international humanitarian NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who say that dwindling stock – only sufficient for another two weeks – has compelled them to limit the number of children who can receive treatment.

In a series of statements via their website and social media, MSF lament that they only have enough therapeutic food left for malnourished children in Zamzam camp at El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, for another two weeks. “Unfortunately, today we had to limit the number of children who can receive this treatment due to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detaining our trucks carrying supplies,” MSF says.

The organisation cautions that “deliberately obstructing and delaying humanitarian shipments could put the lives of thousands of children at risk and prevent them from receiving life-saving treatment.”

MSF warns that without treatment, the risk of severely malnourished children dying within three to six weeks increases. “It is noteworthy that the bed occupancy rate reached 126 percent in the malnutrition ward in our field hospital in Zamzam, which shows the huge number of children whose condition has deteriorated.”

MSF complains that “the RSF detained our three trucks heading to Zamzam and El Fasher in Kabkabiya for more than a month, knowing that they were carrying life-saving medical supplies, including therapeutic food.

“We urge all warring parties to enable the cross-border transfer of humanitarian aid into Sudan and across the front lines. Deliberately obstructing and delaying humanitarian shipments could put the lives of thousands of children at risk and prevent them from receiving life-saving treatment.”

MSF says that Repeated attacks on healthcare facilities in El Fasher are causing the already heavy death toll in the city to rise even further, while the ongoing blockage on urgently needed medical supply trucks is putting even more lives at risk.

“In the past 12 weeks, over 2,170 people have been treated at MSF-supported hospitals in the city and over 300 have died from their injuries. On July 29, an attack on Saudi Hospital marked the 10^th time a hospital had been hit in El Fasher since the fighting escalated on May 10.”

As reported by Radio Dabanga on Tuesday, three people who were accompanying patients were killed when the RSF bombed the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher.

Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr Ibrahim Khater, said in press statements that the RSF bombed the Saudi Hospital with more than 10 heavy artillery shells, which led to damage to the accident ward and the nutrition ward. He confirmed the safety of the medical staff.

He said that the bombing also targeted the Islamic complex northeast of the hospital, killing at least three children and wounding others.

A doctor from the Saudi Hospital told Radio Dabanga that the bombing damaged a number of cars and shattered the windows of the wards. He said that the hospital received a large number of wounded.

The war in Sudan has brought healthcare services across the country to a near standstill. Hospitals across the country have been damaged or destroyed by bombardments, medical staff and volunteers have been targeted and killed, and the hostilities have curtailed distribution of vital medicines and humanitarian aid.