By Mohamed al-Khatam
KHARTOUM (AA) – Doctors at 34 Sudanese hospitals went on strike Thursday to protest poor work conditions and what they describe as the country’s "deteriorating" public-health sector, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.
"Thirty-four of the country’s leading specialist hospitals, 17 of which are in Khartoum State, are taking part in the strike," committee spokesman Hossam al-Amin told Anadolu Agency.
Doctors formally declared strike action, he said, "after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline given to the Health Ministry to meet the committee’s demands".
According to al-Amin, these demands include improved work conditions, especially in hospital emergency rooms, some of which, he lamented, "lack the most basic medical equipment, including oxygen".
The strike, he went on to assert, "will continue until doctors’ demands are met".
The strike does not extend to emergency rooms, al-Amin explained, with the exception of Khartoum’s Omdurman, Bahri and Haj al-Safi hospitals.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Mamoun Humeida accused striking doctors of pursuing a "political" agenda.
A spokesman for the strikers retorted, however, that the minister was trying to "evade his responsibilities" by attributing the strike to political motives.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors is distinct from the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, which is linked to Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party and which is opposed to the doctors’ strike.