Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) |

South Sudan: Gunshot victims seek care after Ethiopian border violence

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 28, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ --

More than three dozen victims of violence have sought assistance at an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)-supported hospital in Maiwut. The health facility is now providing medical and surgical care to the wounded of recent attacks near Gambella, Ethiopia, where nearly 200 people were killed and more than 100 children abducted.

Many of the 39 men, women and children admitted to the hospital are suffering from gunshot injuries as a result of the mid-April clashes along the Ethiopian border.

“The team has been working nonstop to deal with the influx of patients,” said Chiyuki Yoshida, the ICRC hospital project manager in Maiwut. “Overcrowding is a challenge since the hospital also continues to receive people affected by severe malnutrition, malaria and violence occurring elsewhere in South Sudan.”

Maiwut hospital is located in the Upper Nile region about 20 kilometers from Gambella. It is the only medical facility in the region providing surgical and advanced health care to the nearly 80,000 people living there.

The ICRC currently supports seven medical and primary health care facilities in South Sudan. Since January this year our teams have performed more than 1,600 surgeries.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).