MORE than 1,600 people have been killed in attacks on medical facilities and healthcare centres during the proxy war being waged in Sudan so far this year, the United Nations health chief said on Wednesday.

World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus director-general said that the agency has documented 65 attacks on health facilities since January. The attacks also left 276 people wounded.

The most recent was a drone attack on Sunday on a military hospital in Diling, the capital of South Kordofan province, which in recent months became a flashpoint in the fighting between the Sudanese military and the United Arab Emirates back paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Mr Ghebreyesus said the attack killed nine people and wounded 17. “Every attack deprives more people from health services and medicines — needs that do not pause while facilities are rebuilt and services restored,” he said in a post on X.

The Sudan Doctors Network blamed the RSF for the drone attack that targeted the military hospital in Diling.

The casualties in Diling were among at least 104 people killed in attacks across the Kordofan region since December 4, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

The attacks on healthcare facilities included an RSF offensive on the Saudi Hospital in the Darfur city of el-Fasher in October. The WHO said gunmen killed at least 460 people at the hospital and abducted doctors and nurses.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the Egypt and Saudi Arabia backed military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The war has killed more than 40,000 people, though aid groups say the true number could be many times higher.

The conflict has also created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people forced to flee their homes and famine spreading in parts of the country.