Sudanese security arrests doctors union chief

February 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) -The security apparatus detained for several hours the chairman of the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD), the independent group said in a statement released on Sunday.

The CCSD last week held a set-in outside the health ministry to reiterate their demand for protection, following the murder of a doctor in his private clinic in Sennar town in eastern South Sudan.

The doctor union said its chairman Mohamed Yassen had been arrested from the doctors barracks in Khartoum and held for eight hours at an office of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Khartoum North.

The group condemned the arrest of its chairman and rejected the “barbaric manner” of the security service threatening the safety of Dr. Yassen and the other physicians.

According to the statement, Yssaen was released at 09.00pm local time after being ordered to return to the NISS office in Khartoum North on Monday morning, without explaining the reasons for his arrest.

In October and November of last year, the CCSD organised a series of strikes refusing non-emergency treatments to protest the poor working conditions, lack of medicines and protection of doctors after increasing attacks by frustrated patients and their families.

(ST)