ALBAWABA - Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the attack on the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher appalling, urging warring parties to provide protection for the mothers and the children and allow safe access to health care.
"The attack has reportedly led to deaths and injuries, including the death of Amna Ahmed Bakhit, a pharmacist who was on night duty at the time. Our heartfelt condolences go to those who have lost loved ones" Tedros added.
An attack on the only functioning hospital that provides maternal and child healthcare in El Fasher was reported two days ago, killing a pharmacy worker and prompting new calls on Monday from the head of the UN health agency for the violence to stop.
The pharmacist killed in the attack was identified as Amna Ahmed Bakhit. Commenting on the killing of Bakhit, Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami released a statement regarding the killing of the pharmacist.
"Killed on the job, prescribing and administering medicine to women, men and children in a place that should have been safe," the top UN coordinator in the country said in a post on X.
"From bullets or bombs, starvation or disease, each soul lost to this senseless war takes Sudan another inexorable step away from what we all want. Peace" Nkweta-Salami added in her statement.
In recent weeks, the UN and the international community have urged Sudan to avoid a humanitarian disaster that might lead millions to starve as a result of food shortages caused by violence that has expanded to 12 of the country's 18 states.
The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, which started in the city on May 10th, is still escalating. There have been 1,300 wounded and 288 civilian deaths as a result of the fighting since then.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the violence has caused approximately 8.8 million people to be internally displaced and an estimated 15,550 deaths nationwide.
