Sudan: Murder case against doctors withdrawn after protests

Doctors in Omdurman who are in the dock for an escaped hospital patient who later succumbed to his wounds, have received support from Sudanese colleagues. Peaceful demonstrations in Omdurman, Port Sudan, and Sennar, condemning the accusations, have led to the withdrawal of the case.

On Thursday, doctors organised vigils in solidarity with their three colleagues who face trial in Um Bada court, Omdurman. They are accused of premeditated murder under Article 130 for the treatment of a patient in critical condition. The patient was stabbed with a knife and treated by the doctors without Form 8, a form one receives from the police after reporting a crime. He managed to escape the hospital and was found dead later. 

The doctors on the streets in Omdurman, Sennar, and Port Sudan on Thursday all pointed to the fact that “the patient's escape from the hospital before the completion of this treatment is not the doctors' responsibility”.

Above: Protest in Port Sudan on Thursday. Below: The vigil by doctors in Omdurman the same day (RD)

Doctor Guenat told Radio Dabanga from Khartoum that surgeries in Omdurman Hospital were canceled in solidarity with their colleagues in court. The attorney-general has withdrawn the file of the case of the three doctors from Um Bada court after the protests, Guenat said.

Hospital fees go up

Meanwhile in Bahri, Khartoum, the management of the hospital decided to increase surgical fees by 100 percent last week, according to Guenat. “The surgeons have noticed that the absence of patients who were waiting for surgery, because of the higher costs of treatment.

“Most Sudanese are outside the umbrella of health insurance, too,” the doctor explained.

He said that these poor health conditions in hospitals and the increase of medicine prices by between 50 to 100 percent are the results of tasking State Ministries of Health with health issues, in addition to a withdrawal of the federal Ministry. First Vice-President of Sudan, Bakri Hassan Saleh, directed the state ministries to set up a vision for localising Sudan's pharmaceutical industry during the Council of Ministers in Khartoum on Thursday