Sudan pharmacists join doctors in general strike

The Sudanese Central Pharmacists Committee, in cooperation with the Community Pharmacists Committee and the Department of Pharmacy Owners announced a general strike and closure of all pharmacies in Khartoum state as of Tuesday.

In a statement on Monday, the pharmacists said that work will continue in emergency pharmacies, and pharmacists will cooperate with all other medical personnel to assist the wounded and injured and regular in groups according to their presence in each area of Sudan.

Pharmacist Bahaa El Haj, member of the Sudanese Professionals Association, told Radio Dabanga that “the Central Sudan Pharmacists Committee is fully aware of the movement of our people and all its choices of demonstrating and peacefully protesting the desire for a decent life for the Sudanese citizen”.

Yesterday, the doctors entered into an open-ended strike in a series of strikes by the professional sectors.

Dr Sarah Abdeljalil, the head of the Sudanese Doctors Union in the United Kingdom, told Radio Dabanga that the doctors’ strike, which started yesterday, was good and had positive participation in many hospitals outside and inside Khartoum state.

She said the doctors’ strike concerned ‘cold cases’ only while work continued in emergency, aid and dangerous cases.

The doctors’ strike comes as part of a series of strikes by a group of Sudanese professionals aimed at paralysing the government’s work force and stopping its resources used in killing and suppressing the Sudanese people.