GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization’s chief called on Tuesday for the parties in the conflict in Sudan to provide access to medical facilities to all those requiring care, warning that medical supplies and personnel in the capital are running low.
“I want to be very clear: All parties must ensure unrestricted and safe access to health facilities for those injured and everyone in need of medical care,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing.
His comments came shortly after Sudan’s rival commanders agreed a 24-hour ceasefire from Tuesday evening, after pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over deadly fighting that has engulfed the capital Khartoum.
The United Nations has warned of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, including the near collapse of the health system.
Tedros said restrictions on movement had made it difficult for workers and ambulances to reach health facilities, putting further lives at risk.
Supplies distributed to health facilities before the recent escalation of the conflict were exhausted and hospitals in the capital Khartoum were reporting shortages of personnel and life-saving medical supplies, he said.
Fuel shortages for hospital generators, as well as water and power cuts, were also reportedly affecting health facilities.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva and Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; writing by Josephine Mason,; Editing by Peter Graff and Ed Osmond)
