Nyala, November 18 (Darfur24)
Tensions are rising between medical staff in the South Darfur state Ministry of Health and the medical department of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to multiple sources in Nyala.
Three medical sources told Darfur24 that several doctors have refused to work at the Emergency and Trauma Hospital recently opened by the RSF.
They attributed the refusal to objections over working under RSF-affiliated administrative and medical directors rather than officials from the Ministry of Health, under which the doctors are formally registered.
A medical source said the RSF medical department had earlier recommended dismissing the director of the Specialized Hospital, Dr. Ammar Ismail, after he refused in June to hand over the hospital’s management. The source added that several doctors who opposed working at the new Emergency and Trauma Hospital on Nyala International Airport Street were arrested.
According to the same source, the RSF medical director in Nyala has taken control of health facilities across the state, and has been allocated a private office inside the teaching hospital, parts of which are now being used as the headquarters of the state Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, an informed RSF source told Darfur24 that the presence of what he described as “Popular Resistance and Islamist elements” within the Ministry of Health is obstructing its work. He added that the RSF intends to “remove all obstacles” in the coming period.
In a related development, another medical source reported that the new Emergency and Trauma Hospital is suffering from a shortage of staff. The RSF medical department has asked personnel recently transferred from Khartoum State to begin working there immediately.
Hospitals and health centers in Nyala contracted by the RSF medical department continue to stage intermittent strikes due to unpaid financial dues.