WHO chief says more than 1,600 people have been killed in attacks on health centers in Sudan this year

More than 1,600 people have been killed in attacks on medical facilities and health care centers in war-torn areas Sudan So far this year, united nations The latest challenging statistic in the devastating conflict, the health chief said on Wednesday. African Nation.

Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusThe head of the World Health Organization said the agency had documented 65 attacks on health facilities since January. 276 people were also injured in the attacks.

The most recent was a drone attack on Sunday on a military hospital in Dilling, the capital of South Kordofan province, which has become a flashpoint in fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in recent months.

Ghebreyesus said nine people were killed and 17 injured in the attack. “Each attack leaves more people without health services and medicines – needs that do not stop while facilities are rebuilt and services are restored,” he said in a post on X.

The Sudan Doctors Network, a group of medical professionals monitoring the war, blamed paramilitaries for the drone attack, which targeted the military hospital in Diling.

At least 104 people have been killed in Diling in attacks in the Kordofan region since December 4, according to Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Attacks on health facilities included an RSF attack on a Saudi hospital in the Darfur city of al-Fashar in October. Who The gunmen were said to have killed at least 460 people in the hospital and abducted doctors and nurses.

Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the army and the RSF escalated into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country.

The war, now in its third year, has killed more than 40,000 people, according to UN figures, although aid groups say that is an undercount and the real number may be many times higher.

The conflict has also created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 14 million people forced to flee their homes, disease outbreaks and famine spreading in parts of the country.