NGO urges warring parties in Sudan to respect its health facilities amid escalating violence

KHARTOUM, APRIL 24, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – An international medical charity in Sudan has expressed concerns about the escalating violence and urged the warring parties in the capital and other areas of the country to respect its health facilities.

EMERGENCY – an international NGO providing care to people affected by poverty and wars in Sudan – on Monday expressed deep concern about the ongoing fighting in Sudan and called on the parties to the conflict to recognize hospitals as safe zones and respect their neutrality.

“Our hospitals and clinics are neutral places where we treat anyone in need, without discrimination,” the medical charity statement reads in part.

The organization particularly highlighted the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Soba Al Hilla, Khartoum, where it said that “many patients can only survive with constant monitoring and assistance by both staff and machinery.

It stressed that “Any interference with the medical care being provided would endanger their lives.”

Franco Masini, Medical Coordinator at the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, said: “These are extremely difficult and tense days in Sudan, but we appeal to all parties to respect our health facilities and the lives of our patients.”

“We have treated more than 770,000 patients in Sudan since 2004, always according to the humanitarian principle of neutrality,” Masini added.

EMERGENCY is an international humanitarian organization that provides free medical care to people affected by conflicts and poverty.

It has been operating in Sudan since 2004, where it has treated over 770,000 patients.

It operates the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Soba Al Hilla of the capital Khartoum, and Paediatric Clinics in Port Sudan of Red Sea State, Nyala of South Darfur and Mayo (Khartoum.