Sudanese Professionals Association: ‘COVID-19 is a national security threat’

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) said in a statement on Sunday that it considers COVID-19 a national security threat. It called on the health authorities to raise an alert.

“The new cases announced by the ministry in its regular reports do not reflect the real epidemiological situation”, the SPA stated. “The cases registered in private laboratories are not included in the official figures, while the government has no plans to correct this.”

The association further reported that seven health care professionals died in Sudan in the past week.

Strike

Medics working in the isolation ward of the private Universal Hospital in Khartoum announced they will today lay down their tools for 72 hours. They demand improvement of their working environment, an operating laboratory within the hospital, and additional medical staff to be able to deal with the influx of COVID-19 patients.

One of the medics added that there is a “significant shortage of medicines”, including basic medicines for coronavirus patients.

Three weeks ago, director Howeida El Hasan of the Alban Jadeed Hospital in the Sharg el Nil locality, called on the government to develop a new protocol to deal with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic during an interview with Radio Dabanga. She also stated that the government must provide protective equipment for medical and health personnel to stop unnecessary spread of the virus.

The Sudanese Ministry of Health reported 213 new COVID-19 cases yesterday. Four patients died, 10 recovered. In total, 16,052 cases have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic. 1,197 patients died, 9,737 recovered.

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