Patienter skudt i deres senge, udbrændte operationsstuer, medicinsk udstyr plyndret og i ét tilfælde et helt sygehus ødelagt. Det er nogle af oplysningerne om forholdene i dele af Sydsudan netop nu, som bringes i en ualmindelig dyster rapport fra Læger uden Grænser onsdag.
Medical charity MSF has warned its work in South Sudan is being jeopardised (bragt i fare) as a result of “brutal” attacks on medical facilities in which patients and its hospital staff have also been targeted.
Se også øjenvidneberetning på
http://www.msf.org/article/south-sudan-operating-table-had-been-burned-fridges-were-melted
Hundreds of thousands of people have been effectively denied lifesaving assistance, MSF says in the new report.
Fighting between the government and rebels since mid-December has displaced (fordrevet) about 860.000 people, the UN says. The sides have accused each other of violating a January ceasefire.
The MSF report says that the town Leer is now empty of civilians who have fled continued insecurity and are living in terrible conditions in the bush, too terrified to return home
In the first 10 weeks of the crisis, MSF carried out more than 40.000 consultations of children aged under five
Assaults on medical facilities and patients are part of a broader backdrop of attacks on towns, markets and public facilities, MSF says.
MSF mission head Raphael Gorgeu said hospitals are “now targets of attack and brutality” rather than “safe havens for treatment”.
He said: “Assaults on medical facilities and patients are part of a broader backdrop of brutal attacks on towns, markets and public facilities.
“These attacks show a complete lack of respect for medical care and deprive the most vulnerable of lifesaving assistance just when they need it most.”
The report lists numerous recent “gruesome attacks”, including:
* Patients murdered in their beds in the town of Malakal, Upper Nile state
* A hospital in Leer, Unity state, was “thoroughly looted, burned and vandalised”
* The MSF compound in Bentiu, capital of Unity state, was looted amid heavy fighting
* On 22 February, MSF teams discovered at least 14 bodies at the Malakal teaching hospital compound, scattered among 50 to 75 patients who remained in the facility, too weak or elderly to flee for safety.
Malakal, a dusty market town that serves as the gateway to the oilfields of the Upper Nile region, has been at the centre of clashes and has repeatedly changed hands.
Local MSF emergency co-ordinator Carlos Francisco said he can “find no words to describe the brutality in Malakal, which has left in its wake a ransacked city and a thoroughly traumatised people”.
Last month the army said that it had recaptured the town after days of heavy fighting.
MSF has 333 international staff working in its projects alongside 3.330 South Sudanese staff.
Se også
http://www.msf.org/article/medical-care-under-fire-south-sudan
