More than 70 NHS doctors stranded in Sudan after being denied evacuation to the UK

The doctors have British visas with permission to live and work in the UK

A Royal Marine checks on a child as British citizens board an RAF aircraft in Sudan for evacuation to Larnaca in Cyprus. Getty Images

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Dozens of NHS doctors are stranded in Sudan after being denied evacuation to the UK.

The Sudanese Junior Doctor Association said 74 doctors who hold British visas to live and work in Britain had been told they were not eligible for evacuation because they are not UK passport holders.

The association's Nadia Baasher told BBC’s Newsnight: “The issue here, and what’s been disappointing to us, is the evacuation has been very sporadic and very ambitious.

“There hasn’t been any information as to, and unfortunately doctors with BRPs [biometric residence permit] have been denied [permission] to board the evacuation [flights].

“Those who hold the BRP or biometric residencies are doctors who have lived here for four or five years, some of them even longer. They work in the NHS. They have seen the country through a pandemic. They are A&E doctors, they are GPs, surgeons, medics. Their lives are here. They have children in school here. They are taxpayers.

“They went to Sudan because of the Eid and Ramadan celebrations, which conveniently coincided with the Easter holidays, so people managed to go. So there are a lot of families with young children at the moment, which is causing a lot of difficulties at the airbase.”

The British Medical Association has also called on the government to evacuate non-British NHS doctors, saying it has a “duty of care” to ensure their safety in Sudan.

Dr Latifa Patel, representative body chair for the British Medical Association, told the Independent: “We are calling on the government to ensure that these doctors, who are invaluable to the UK’s health service, are able to get to safety.

“The situation in Sudan is fluid and as such we do not know exact numbers, but our colleagues at the Sudanese Junior Doctors Association UK estimate that approximately 74 NHS doctors are trapped in Sudan.

“The government has a duty of care to ensure the safety of these NHS doctors who work hard to care for patients in the UK – NHS doctors who are not British passport holders must not be left behind.”

Downing Street has rejected calls from people, including Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Keans, to widen the eligibility for evacuation beyond British passport holders and their immediate families.

But the prime minister's official spokesman said: "There is an element of discretion for people on the ground as you might expect, given the circumstances and the challenging situation people will be facing.

"We recognise these are very challenging circumstances and, as we have done on previous occasions, we obviously empower people on the ground to make decisions."

The latest from the crisis in Sudan - in pictures

On Thursday night, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reiterated a call for all UK citizens wishing to flee Sudan to come forward "as quickly as possible" after an extension to the ceasefire was agreed following talks mediated by the so-called Quad countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The RAF has flown out nearly 900 people from an airfield near the capital Khartoum, but thousands more British citizens may remain in Sudan.

Flights were scheduled to continue regardless but intensified clashes would add extra pressure to the operation and Mr Cleverly had warned that the mission could become impossible.

But the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces joined the Sudanese military in agreeing to extend the 72-hour truce that has meant a lull in the fighting to allow citizens and foreign nationals to flee.

Mr Cleverly said: "The UK calls for its full implementation by the generals.

"British evacuation flights are ongoing.

"I urge all British nationals wishing to leave to proceed to the airport as quickly as possible to ensure their safety."

Britain had been urging the rival generals to extend the ceasefire, which should help stave off a humanitarian crisis in Africa's third-largest country.

More than 2,000 British citizens in Sudan have registered under the evacuation plans but the true number of citizens there could be far higher.

As of 4pm on Thursday, 897 people had been evacuated on eight RAF flights.

The Foreign Office, which has not said how many of the evacuees are Britons or foreign nationals, had been urging citizens to head to the airstrip before the ceasefire ended.

Military chiefs say they have the capacity to fly at least 500 people per day out of the Wadi Saeedna airfield, north of Khartoum.

Earlier in the day, Mr Cleverly warned that resumption of fighting could jeopardise the evacuation efforts.

"We cannot predict exactly what will happen when that ceasefire ends, but what we do know is it will be much, much harder, potentially impossible," he told Sky News.

"So, what we're saying to British nationals is if you're hesitant, if you're weighing up your options, our strong, strong advice is to go through Wadi Saeedna whilst the ceasefire is up and running.

"There are planes, there is capacity, we will lift you out. I'm not able to make those same assurances once a ceasefire has ended."

UK passport holders have been told to make their own way to the airfield and are not being provided with a military escort.

Africa minister Andrew Mitchell warned that an end to the ceasefire could result in a humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan.

"It is essential that a ceasefire is maintained and that a political process is secured," he told the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House.

"If not, the humanitarian consequences will be incalculable."

Meanwhile, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the UK has said there will be no “no instant solution” to the conflict in Sudan, but efforts by the so-called Quad group of countries to negotiate a peaceful settlement continue.

Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan said on Friday the Quad – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States – had negotiated an extension to the ceasefire and work was ongoing to negotiate a permanent end to the war.

“There's a lot to discuss. It's premature to give you a final solution to what Sudan will look like going forward in a peaceful sense.

“But it's important to include everyone, you can't pick one side and say, 'Well, you're not part of the solution.' Everyone is engaged,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Friday.

He added: “There is no instant solution. It is going to be a progression of events that lead to where we'd like to get to.”

The ambassador said Saudi Arabia had so far evacuated more than 2,700 people from the war-torn country.

And it would continue its efforts to get people out as long as it was safe to do so.

“We will continue evacuating people in partnership with our friends and allies around the world.

“That will continue as long as it’s safe for people to get to Port Sudan and it’s safe for the often forgotten military players in this, who also risk their lives to get people across.”