Juba: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has issued a condemnation following the deliberate bombing of its hospital in Old Fangak, Jonglei State, South Sudan. The incident involved two helicopter gunships that targeted the MSF pharmacy, and subsequently the town of Old Fangak, resulting in significant casualties and damage.
According to African Press Organization, the attack commenced at 30am when the helicopter gunships destroyed the MSF pharmacy and continued to fire on the town for approximately 30 minutes. Later, a drone targeted the Old Fangak market at around 7am. The assault led to at least seven deaths and injured 20 individuals. Mamman Mustapha, MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan, reported that at 8am, the hospital received around 20 wounded people, including four in critical condition. The bombing injured one patient and two caregivers, including an MSF staff member, who were inside the hospital. Patients who were not critically injured fled the facility.
The bombing has severely impacted the hospital
‘s operations, with the pharmacy, a critical storage for medical supplies, being completely destroyed. This incident has compromised MSF’s ability to provide care, especially given that Old Fangak Hospital is the sole healthcare facility in Fangak county, serving a population of over 110,000 people. MSF emphasized the critical nature of this attack, which occurred despite sharing the geolocations of all their structures with all parties involved in the conflict.
MSF is currently assessing the full extent of the damage to understand the implications on their capacity to deliver healthcare. They have called on all parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, stressing that hospitals should never be targeted and that the safety of civilians, including health workers and patients, must be upheld.