In 2003, doctors came together to demand better working conditions from the Government of Sudan. After a brief strike, the government accepted a 12-point agreement with the physician activists, which included a salary increase.
Seven years later, that agreement has yet to be implemented. Doctors formed a new Doctors' Strike Committee in early 2010, and held a series of strikes that ended when the government agreed to implement the agreement in April 2010. However, Sudan's Ministry of Health then withdrew the agreement in mid-May, and the Doctors' Committee called a meeting for June 2, to decide next steps. Before the meeting could be held, several doctors were arrested, one severely beaten.
On June 2, doctors and medical students from the University of Khartoum organized a protest to demand the release of their colleagues. Officers of the NISS attacked the peaceful protesters, badly injuring several of them. During the first week of June, more doctors were arrested, and other members of the Doctors' Strike Committee were forced into hiding. There are reports that some of the doctors have been severely beaten.
Today, the doctors remain on strike until their colleagues are released, and medical students have been assigned to cover hospital duties across Sudan. At least seven doctors are in prison, and are at risk of abuse or torture. Other doctors and their families continue to be threatened.
The Sudanese medical system is in crisis. The Doctors' Strike Committee is negotiating with the Sudanese Government for their colleagues' release.