Sudanese doctors union denounces dismissal of physicians in North Darfur

September 1, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese Doctors Committee (SDC) on Thursday denounced a decision by El-Fasher Teaching Hospital dismissing all its 34 doctors housemen after they protested unpaid allowances.

Last August, North Darfur Ministry of Health fired junior doctors working in El-Fasher hospital and banned them from entering the hospital after they staged a protest over non-payment of overtime allowances for five months.

Sudanese Doctors Committee, which is an independent medical practitioner organization, said that the dismissed physicians requested to improve their working conditions which affect the quality of care the patients receive.

“The care services in the hospital are currently covered by medical students who didn’t yet complete the training period,” says the SDC in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

SDC Secretary General, Omer Ahmed Salih, said what is happening to physicians in El-Fasher is similar to what happened to the doctors of Kosti hospital when they requested the provision of minimum conditions to provide adequate health services to patients.

Last May, SDC organized a protest in front of the Ministry of Health in Khartoum against the dismissal of physicians serving in Kosti hospital after they went on strike.

Salih further pointed SDC will continue supporting El-Fasher hospital through all the means, stressing that the situation of patients affected by the physicians’ dismissal top their priorities.

(ST)