MSF Sudan evacuates ‘exhausted’ Khartoum team

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced the evacuation of its team from the Turkish Hospital in Khartoum, due to ongoing violence both inside and outside the facility. The decision follows numerous threats to the lives of MSF staff.

In a press release on Wednesday, MSF Sudan emergency response head, Claire Nicolet, described the situation in and around the Turkish Hospital, located in El Kalakla, a residential district controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as “untenable”. 

“Multiple violent incidents have taken place inside and outside the premises over the past 12 months, and the lives of our staff have been repeatedly threatened.”

According to the press release, two armed men held an MSF employee inside the hospital in June, took him to an unknown location and severely beat him. In another incident on June 17 and 18, “dozens of wounded combatants were brought to the Turkish hospital, and our team was aggressively woken up as Kalashnikovs were fired into their bedrooms,” says Nicolet. “This type of violence against our staff is unacceptable.”

In its statement, MSF highlighted its provision of life-saving treatment in the hospital for approximately 14 months despite numerous obstacles imposed by the warring parties. However, it says that recent events have rendered this support impossible, and the MSF team are “physically and mentally exhausted”.

Due to a blockade imposed by the Sudanese authorities since September, which prevents the transfer of medical supplies and humanitarian workers to areas controlled by the RSF, “it has not been possible for us to bring in a new team to replace them, and they have been working tirelessly to keep the hospital open under intense pressure”, Nicolet explains.

The Turkish Hospital will remain open with Ministry of Health staff, but surgeries will not be possible without the evacuated MSF staff, casting uncertainty on the hospital’s future.

Crucial facility

Since the war began, the Turkish Hospital has been a crucial part of the health system, serving patients from Khartoum and Wad Madani, the capital of El Gezira. “MSF was also forced to suspend operations there in May 2024, due to repeated security incidents and obstructions to bring in staff and supplies, similar to those impacting Khartoum.”

Before MSF established an emergency room and expanded the operating room capacity in mid-May 2023, the Turkish Hospital specialised in women’s and children’s healthcare. Nearly 80 percent of all surgeries performed in the past year were life-saving caesarean sections for women experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. “As a result of these repeated security incidents, all surgery in the hospital has now stopped.”

MSF also managed the paediatric intensive care unit, the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre for children with severe acute malnutrition, and “the only neonatal unit in Khartoum”. MSF’s practical support for these activities has now been suspended.

Bashair Teaching Hospital in Khartoum, also supported by MSF, has faced several armed raids over the past few months. Between October 2023 and January 2024, MSF was forced to suspend surgeries at the hospital, but continues to work there despite the deteriorating security situation in Khartoum, according to the statement.

MSF has called on the warring parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and to provide permits for medical supplies and humanitarian workers to move across front lines.

The RSF controls El Kalaklaat in southwest Khartoum where the Turkish Hospital is located, while continuous clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF occur in El Shajara military complex located in the vicinity.