Attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan: an unprecedented surge amid a military coup.

The medical community in Sudan has been shocked and dismayed at the level of saddening and unprecedented attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities by the security and military forces following the country’s latest coup d’état. On October 25 2021, the military council took power, overthrowing the transitional government and suspending the interim constitutional document that was signed by the civil and military factions in 2019 following the toppling of the Al-Bashir’s autocratic regime (Salih and Beaumont 2021). This derailing of the democratic transition incited widespread disapproval among the Sudanese people and galvanized massive protests. Since then, the country has witnessed nationwide violence exercised by the militia that operates under the authority of the coup leaders. To date, over 100 protesters have been killed mostly by lethal bullet wounds in the head and chest as well as by tear gas canisters (Bachelet 2022). Moreover, thousands have been injured during the demonstrations against the coup, many of whom lost limbs or body parts and required major surgical intervention (Perthes 2022). Pressure on the healthcare system has been enormous and unrelenting. In January 2022, the WHO reported that 856 rapid response kits were distributed since the beginning of the coup to the capital Khartoum, where most of the injuries among protesters are reported, and other priority states (AlMandhari 2022). The COVID-19 vaccination program suffered extensive interruptions that affected the delivery of the vaccine amid the ongoing violence, although attempts were made to set up mobile vaccination units at the protest sit-ins (Al-Mandhari 2022). The scale of attacks is dramatically worse compared to early 2019 at the beginning of the Sudanese revolution when, even at the peak of the resistance and demonstrations against the later ousted regime, the invasions of hospitals were relatively isolated and limited. The most infamous incident at