Dr. Mohamed Abdullah
muhammedbabiker@aol.co.uk
In times of great turmoil, the truth is not only the first victims, but it also turns into a conflict scene.
In this context, the controversy prompted by Abdelfattah Al-Barhan ' s speech, when he brought charges to the doctors of the Sudan, in which he questioned their roles and pointed out links beyond their human profession, which were not transient; it was at a very sensitive moment, when the war interfered with the remaining State institutions, primarily the health sector.
However, the question that imposes itself here is not entirely political, but largely moral: is the role of doctors reduced, under these circumstances, in public security charges?
Over the past months, doctors have worked in conditions that do not provide minimum possibilities: out-of-service hospitals, shortages of medicines and supplies, repeated breaks of electricity and water, as well as risks of shelling and clashes.
However, the operating rooms have been open, even sometimes in the light of mobile phones, and they have continued to aid the wounded and treat the injured, without distinction between civilian and military, or between affiliations. This is not an ideal picture, but a fact documented in numerous reports and testimonies.
A number of doctors paid their lives for their whereabouts, while others were arrested or displaced, yet the minimum medical service did not cease, reflecting a professional obligation beyond political considerations.
In such a context, making public accusations of this category requires a high degree of precision; in essence, health institutions are neutral, and any attempt to force them into the conflict of the parties only undermines the remaining confidence and trust needed by all, including the authors of such accusations.
History, near and far, provides clear examples: when medical personnel are targeted, or their neutrality is questioned, the first loser is not a particular party, but society as a whole.
In times of tension, the search for new opponents, or the responsibilities of a particular group, are easier than their role, but this does not solve a crisis, does not change parallels to a complex reality.
Doctors are not over criticism, but they are not parties to the conflict in the sense they are meant to be.
ربما لا يحتاج أطباء السودان إلى من يدافع عنهم بقدر ما تحتاج الوقائع إلى أن تُروى بهدوء. ففي بلد تتنازعه الأزمات، تبقى المهن التي تحفظ الحد الأدنى من إنسانيته — وفي مقدمتها الطب — خطاً أخيراً لا يحتمل كثيراً من العبث.
في النهاية، قد يختلف الناس في السياسة وفي تفسير ما يجري، لكنهم نادراً ما يختلفون حول قيمة من ينقذ حياة إنسان.
