Updates from EMERGENCY in Khartoum

On 26 March 2025, Khartoum was recaptured by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), almost two years after conflict broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Intense fighting in the capital in recent weeks has had repercussions on the humanitarian activities of EMERGENCY, which has remained in Khartoum and other cities in Sudan throughout the war. In the Khartoum neighbourhood where EMERGENCY’s Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery is located, entry and exit routes are yet to be reopened and authorised. Supplies remain blocked, and it is impossible for staff members either to reach or leave the hospital complex.

“These last few days have been particularly difficult because of violent fighting just a few kilometres from our hospital,” stressed Matteo D’Alonzo, Director of the EMERGENCY Salam Centre in Khartoum. “Because of the siege of the city, we have been waiting for the entry of six truckloads of essential goods for three months, including food, hygiene products and medicines that are critical for our activities. Some of our staff have been stuck here for almost a year. Since January, we have had only had electricity supply thanks to generators. We are awaiting official authorisation to use one of the roads in and out of our area, which would allow both staff and supplies to be moved.”

EMERGENCY has been operating in Khartoum since 2007 with the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, which has remained open since the war began. While cardiac surgeries have been interrupted due to a lack of electricity and supplies, the 400 Sudanese and international staff members at the Centre have continued to offer emergency first aid and paediatric care, activities which are now in danger of suspension if essential supplies remain blocked.

“At this point, we are relying on soon being able to begin the rotation of our international staff in and out of the city, and to finally receive the supplies we need to continue our activities and, above all, to restart cardiac operations: the waiting list for the operating theatre is already very long. The Salam Centre is the only point of reference for cardiac patients who have not fled. So many people are returning home to the capital, though many of them no longer have a home,” D’Alonzo concludes.

Nyala, in South Darfur, continues to be an epicentre of fighting, and air strikes occur daily. Here, EMERGENCY has recently restarted inpatient activities at its Paediatric Centre, which had been interrupted after the facility was looted in October 2023.

EMERGENCY’s projects in Sudan include the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery and a Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in Khartoum, a Paediatric Centre in Port Sudan, and a Paediatric Centre in Nyala (South Darfur). EMERGENCY has also opened satellite outpatient clinics for cardiac patients in Atbara (north-east), Kassala (near the Eritrean border) and Gedaref (south-east).