When the war started in Sudan in April 2023, many of those living in Khartoum fled in fear for their lives. This included many healthcare workers who moved to safer areas. At the same time, some health facilities were attacked or caught in the crossfire. One after another hospitals and clinics closed down.


Bashair Teaching Hospital, a major hospital in south Khartoum, one of the most crowded and poorest areas of the city, remained closed until volunteers from the area joined medics to restart the hospital activities in order to provide desperately needed access to healthcare. On 9 May 2023 an MSF surgical and medical team began working alongside them, making it possible for the hospital to provide surgical care.


For 20 months, MSF teams worked alongside volunteers and medical staff to provide healthcare to people trapped in the violence and devastation of south Khartoum. In October 2023, we suspended our surgical activities for several months after military authorities prevented us from bringing surgical supplies to the hospital. For most of 2024, we were unable to bring specialised medical staff, including international staff, to the hospital as we could not get travel permits. In late 2024, we had to suspend our activities temporarily after a series of violent incidents in the hospital culminated in a patient being shot inside the emergency room. A few weeks later, MSF made the difficult decision to suspend all of our activities in Bashair Hospital.


The context has now changed and is considered safe enough to return with a mixed team of international and Sudanese staff to restart our activities. The MSF team will initially focus on providing care for cholera patients and then begin to restart other activities. This package reflects on the challenges of keeping medical care functioning in a war zone and the medical needs that remain.