Medics in Sudan warn of crisis as health system near collapse

Critical shortages of basic goods including water, food and fuel began to take hold amid rising violence, which has so far killed more than 500 people.

Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who heads the RSF, told the BBC days ago that he would agree to talks only after a full ceasefire had been implemented. The RSF has made no public announcement of its willingness to join negotiations.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Sudanese doctors said the healthcare system could collapse, with many hospitals close to the frontlines unable to fully function or having shut down completely.

Just 16% of hospitals in the Sudanese capital, the centre of the fighting, were functioning at full capacity, according to the WHO, with most closed after direct attacks during the fighting.

Citizens across the capital described how relatives had died in their homes due to being unable to access basic medical care. A 33-year-old woman died of dengue fever last week when her family were unable to locate a functioning hospital in Omdurman. One facility in the area reopened and then closed after it was shelled, killing one person and injuring 11 others.

Sixteen hospitals had been subjected to bombardments and shelling, they said, while a national laboratory and 19 hospitals had been forcibly evacuated by military forces, some to use for their operations. Six ambulances were attacked while trying to carry patients. A video purportedly of a paediatric surgery ward of a key hospital in central Khartoum, which could not be immediately verified, showed gaping holes in the roof directly above hospital beds covered in debris and holes from shrapnel dotted the walls.