Sudan: Last civilian hospital in besieged Sudan city closed
Doctors at one of the last functioning hospitals in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher say they've been forced to close down the facility after it was attacked. The country is in the midst of a devastating civil war that began 14 months ago. El-Fasher is the only city still under army control in the entire Darfur region. The hospital has been supported by the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) which had described it as the only one left in el-Fasher where injured civilians could receive treatment. For several days there had been reports of shells hitting the city's South Hospital, causing injuries and deaths. But eyewitnesses say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered the facility on Saturday, causing chaos. According to accounts, gunmen drove up to the hospital and opened fire - looting drugs and medical equipment, stealing an ambulance and assaulting staff. "Due to the chaos, our team was unable to verify if there were any dead or wounded," the medical charity's interim head of mission in Sudan, Maximilien Kowalski, told BBC Newsday. Medics at the hospital had told the BBC days earlier that they were planning to relocate it because of security concerns. When it was attacked on Saturday, thankfully only 10 patients and a reduced medical team were at the facility, MSF says. "The hospital is really close to the frontline, so it will remain closed for now," the medical charity's Sudan chief tells the BBC. Follow link for full story...