Sudanese doctors say military hospitals join their strike
October 9, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) announced on Sunday that hospitals of regular forces joined a strike they started last Thursday.
CCSD, an independent doctors union, announced on Thursday that doctors will refuse non-emergency treatments to patients to protest the poor working conditions, lack of medicines and protection of doctors after increasing attacks on medical staff by frustrated patients and their families.
CCSD Spokesperson Dr. Hossam al-Amin al-Badawi told Sudan Tribune that doctors working at Al-Amal Hospital, run by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and Al-Silah Al-Tibi Hospital, run by the Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) joined the strike, adding that the Police Hospital doctors are preparing to join the movement.
Al-Badawi pointed out that the doctors in the hospitals of regular forces are attached to the Ministry of Health, stressing that the strike is constantly widening as the number of striking hospitals reached 78 hospitals across the country compared to 65 hospitals last Friday.
He revealed that the directors of health centres in Khartoum are meeting and expected that they join the strike, as 26 medical centres in Omdurman joined the protest along with some private hospitals.
The spokesperson stressed that the strike will continue until doctors’ demands are addressed despite the harassment faced by the doctors in a number of states.
The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) denounced the strike and minimized the impact of attacks on doctors. Khartoum State Minister of Health Mamoun Humaida said the opposition-backed strike is highly “politicized”
In a related context, the Chairman of General Union of Health and Medical Professions (GUHMP), Yasir Ahmed, said that health institutions run by the regular forces received a lot of civilian patients and offered the needed medical services after the public hospitals went on strike.
(ST)