Strike in East Darfur hospital extended after police reject complaint

Following the refusal of a police officer in Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur, to file a report against an officer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) government militia, more medical staff of the Ed Daein Teaching Hospital stopped working on Thursday. Nurses at El Obeid Teaching Hospital in North Kordofan demand more medical safety equipment.

On Sunday, an RSF militiaman molested deputy general surgeon Hussein Osman in the Ed Daein Teaching Hosputal. In response, the doctors of the hospital decided to lay down their tools.

When the hospital wanted to lodge an official complaint, the police officer on duty refused to handle the case.

“This approach represents an authoritarian totalitarian mind-set that has nothing to do with the revolution,” the Sudan Doctors’ Central Committee, the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, and the Medical Consultants and Specialists Committee commented in a joint statement on Thursday.

They described the behaviour of the police officer who refused to file a report as “closer to the behaviour of a gang member than that of a neutral state apparatus officer whose job is to maintain security and apply the law for all people”.

The doctors demand a fair and public trial of the aggressor. The police officer who refused to file a report must be held accountable. Furthermore, police protection must be provided at their residences, to ensure that no member of the regular forces will enter them again.

The medics further demand the East Darfur government to offer its apologies for “tarnishing the image of doctors when they accused them of refusing to work, and allowing the police officer on duty on the day of the attack to refuse to file a criminal report against the aggressor”.

Equipment

On Thursday, the nursing staff of El Obeid Teaching Hospital in North Kordofan embarked on a strike in protest against the lack of medical safety equipment and tools at the hospital.

A health worker told Radio Dabanga from El Obeid that the nurses carried out a protest before deciding on a strike.

He explained that the protestors will return after the hospital administration has provided the required medical equipment, and the hospital's medical director has been questioned about the delay in meeting their demands.

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