UK-resident NHS doctors say they are being turned away from Khartoum evacuation flights

Terrified British NHS doctors stranded in Sudan today said they are being refused evacuation flights in Khartoum because they do not have British passports.

NHS doctors queued for hours at the airport in the Sudanese capital after risking their lives to reach the RAF planes – but were turned away by British officials at the evacuation site.

The medics, who are British residents, are now desperately begging officials to be let on planes so they can reach the safety of their homes in Britain and escape the war-torn country that is a tinderbox for violence.

Dr. Tarig Hassan, 32, an orthopedic surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary, shared The times he is one of several NHS medics now begging to be allowed on the evacuation flights.

But some doctors have already been evicted from Wadi Saeedna Air Base after being told there are ‘no exceptions’ and they must have British passports to board the evacuation plane.

In this image, taken from handout video footage released by the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 23, 2023, fighters ride in the back of an engineering vehicle

A doctor said they had shown British officials at the airbase that their MP had instructed them to travel to Wadi Saeedna and that having British residency would mean they would be allowed on the next evacuation flight.

But despite showing the officers their license and working for the NHS, the officers turned down the medic.

“Even when I showed them I work in the NHS, they wouldn’t talk any further and showed me the way out,” the doctor said in a message shared by the Sudanese Junior Doctors Association UK.

“They told me clearly if I needed a UK passport or if I needed to be with a relative who has a UK passport, with no other exceptions.”

The Sudanese Junior Doctors Association UK slammed the government for their decision to prevent NHS doctors from boarding the evacuation flights after enduring a nightmarish journey to reach the airbase.

“They endured a perilous journey to get to Wadi Saeedna amidst a fragile ceasefire and queued for hours to be kicked out and left with no hope of returning to their homes and jobs,” it said. the Union.

Hassan, 32, told the Times he is now stranded at Khartoum airport because he does not have a British passport but has the right to stay. He had traveled to Sudan to celebrate the end of Ramadan with his family.

Earlier this week he demanded the State Department step in to help doctors and criticized the government for prioritizing evacuating diplomats over NHS medics and civilians.

“We have worked for the NHS, we are sacrificing our time and effort, we deserve to be looked after at this difficult time,” he told The times.

And time is running out for the more than 60 NHS doctors – as well as the nearly 3,500 civilians – believed to still be trapped in Sudan to leave the war-torn country before the fragile 72-hour ceasefire expires tonight.

Some Britons have been forced to leave relatives behind, with a British man fleeing with his pregnant wife and their six-year-old son, but leaving his elderly mother behind because she did not have a British passport.

British nationals are evacuated with the help of the British Rapid Deployment Team in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 25

‘British soldiers checked all our papers. I brought my mum but she doesn’t have a UK passport. I tried to persuade the British soldiers to let her on the plane too, but they wouldn’t let her,” Wathig Ali told the BBC.

“It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to my mother.”

He said while waiting for a plane out of the country, “I feel for my pregnant wife – she’s acting brave. Escaping this nightmare is not done yet. I hope the nightmare is over soon.’

Thousands of terrified Britons – many of whom risked their lives to reach an airbase near Khartoum – are now being warned they may not be able to get to safety after the fragile ceasefire expires at midnight.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told desperate Britons it could be ‘impossible’ to evacuate them with flights after tonight – meaning thousands are left to fend for themselves in the war-torn country that is a tinderbox for violence.

Cleverly to Brits who have not yet reached the airbase: ‘if you intend to move, move now’, as a sign of how desperate the situation has become.

So far more than 530 people – many of them young children – have been evacuated to Cyprus and now the UK on six flights as the government scrambles to evacuate the thousands of Britons within hours before the chance arises.

Hundreds of British families have somehow survived the nightmarish journey through the violent streets of Khartoum to reach the British troops waiting for them at Khartoum’s Wadi Saeedna air base – all without a British military escort.

Britons have described seeing thieves and murderers roaming the streets of the capital, while the corpses of civilians killed in the fighting between warring factions lay on the ground in scenes that have been compared to the horror film The Purge.

But even after this terrifying and grueling journey, they are now being told they may not even be put on a flight if the ceasefire breaks.

And for the NHS doctors with UK licenses – and the right to stay in Britain – there isn’t much hope of saving them.