Darfur hospital director resigns in protest

Dr. Mubarak Abdelrahman, head of Nyala Teaching Hospital, resigned from his post in protest of the deterioration of health and environmental conditions at the hospital. He explained to Radio Dabanga that the state government had failed to meet the demands of doctors. Dr. Mubarak said that the most important reason for his resignation was the lack of commitment by the state government to support the hospital. He said that the monthly deficit of the hospital is 60 million pounds. The government has failed to pay arrears to doctors since last year. The doctors are claiming arrears on housing allowances and rent of cars for transport, amounting to 2 billion pounds.

Moreover, the actual needs of the Nyala hospital are urgent, according to Dr. Mubarak. The staffing and technical needs of the hospital include 410 staff, among them 300 nurses, 50 technicians, 40 doctors and 20 specialists. He told Radio Dabanga that the departments of surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology are in urgent need of 32 specialist assistants. He said that in order to gain such staff the working environment needs to improve.

For his part, the governor of the state, Abdelhamid Musa Kasha, has admitted deteriorating health services and environmental conditions at Nyala Hospital. In a meeting with doctors in the city of Nyala, he described the hospital as in very bad condition and a disgrace to all officials. The governor pledged to fundamentally change the state of the hospital during the coming months and pledged to solve the problem of the rights of doctors, which he said amounted to arrears of 200 million pounds.