By Bunmi Yekini
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has strongly condemned a deadly airstrike that hit its hospital in Old Fangak, Jonglei State, early Friday morning, destroying the facility’s pharmacy and severely disrupting lifesaving medical services for over 110,000 people in the region.
According to MSF, the attack began around 4:30am when two helicopter gunships dropped a bomb on the hospital pharmacy, igniting a blaze that consumed all stored medical supplies. The aircraft then continued firing on the town of Old Fangak for about 30 minutes.
By 7am, a drone reportedly bombed the town’s market, killing at least seven people and injuring 20 more. Some of the wounded were rushed to the already-damaged MSF hospital. “At 8am, we received around 20 wounded people at our hospital in Old Fangak, including four in a critical condition,” said Mamman Mustapha, MSF’s Head of Mission in South Sudan. “One patient and two caregivers, including one of our staff, who were already inside the hospital, were injured in the bombing.”
Mustapha added that non-critical patients fled the hospital amid the chaos. “The bombing of our hospital has resulted in significant damage, including the complete destruction of the pharmacy. This is where all our medical supplies for the hospital and our outreach activities were stored, severely compromising our ability to provide care.”
MSF stressed that the GPS coordinates of all its structures, including Old Fangak Hospital, had been shared with all parties involved in the conflict. “Old Fangak Hospital is the only hospital in Fangak county, serving a population of over 110,000 people who already had extremely limited access to healthcare,” Mustapha said. “This attack clearly means people will now be even further cut off from receiving life-saving treatment.”
The international medical organization called on all warring parties to respect international humanitarian law by protecting civilians, health workers, and medical infrastructure. “Hospitals must never be targeted and the lives of civilians must be protected,” said Mustapha.
This marks the second time an MSF facility has been impacted in recent weeks.
On April 14, armed groups looted MSF’s hospital and premises in Ulang, Upper Nile State, effectively cutting off the local population from secondary healthcare.