An NHS doctor working at a Manchester hospital has managed to flee Sudan and has made a desperate appeal to Rishi Sunak to extend evacuation flights to help other medics get out.
Dr Abdulrahman Babiker, a registrar at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI), had been left stranded in the war-torn country and said he felt 'betrayed' after initially being turned away when he tried to board a flight as he only has a UK permit.
But the 33-year-old, who had been visiting family and was due back on shift at the MRI, managed to later get out on a flight arriving in Cyprus in the early hours of Saturday. Speaking at Larnaca airport before flying to the UK, he urged the government to keep evacuation flights open longer.
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Dr Babiker said he personally knew of three NHS doctors — who he said also have permits — who had faced difficulty getting to the airbase in Sudan in time for the final British evacuation plane.
The UK government said on Friday people eligible had until midday local time yesterday [Saturday] to get to Wadi Saeedna ahead of a final evacuation flight later.
Fighting has now broken out again in Khartoum despite the extension of an armistice between the country’s two warring generals having been brokered in the early hours of Friday.
The medic's plea came after the UK government U-turned, announcing that NHS doctors without UK passports who were in Sudan could catch evacuation flights.
Ministers answered calls to widen the remit, which had been limited to British nationals and their immediate family, after a significant decline in the number of UK citizens coming forward.
However, the decision was announced with just hours to go until the final flight takes off from the Wadi Saeedna airfield near Khartoum at 6pm UK time.
Dr Babiker thanked the government for changing its position but said: “It is still difficult because some people still live far from Wadi Saeedna and they mentioned today it’s difficult for them to get to Wadi Saeedna. There is just one day for them to come to Wadi Saeedna.
“If this can be extended by another few days so these NHS doctors can be evacuated safely that would be great because it’s really quite difficult for them.”
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden announced evacuation planes were stopping, saying that “people should expect within the next 24 hours, so by 6 o’clock UK time tomorrow, for us to cease those flights”.
Asked what his message to prime minister Sunak was, Dr Babiker said: “I know personally three… NHS doctors, that today early morning they mentioned … it’s really difficult for them to ensure a safe journey to reach to Wadi Saeedna today.
"So 24 hour for them, it’s quite [a] strict time and if they got or allowed for more time they may make it to Wadi Saeedna and they can be evacuated with their family…
“If I can ask the government to extend this period by… another few days… to make it a little bit easier for the NHS doctor[s] to be evacuated safely to [the] UK, that would be really grateful.”
Asked if he fears for the NHS doctors he knows if they cannot get out, he said: “It will be quite bad … to leave them behind, and then they need now to make their own way through the borders which will take just weeks to … come back to UK with this risky journey to go through these borders.”
He also said he believed the government should have allowed NHS doctors in his situation to get evacuation flights earlier.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We have made the decision to extend the evacuation criteria to include eligible non- British nationals in Sudan who are working as clinicians within the NHS, and their dependents who have leave to enter the UK.
“We are able to offer this increased eligibility thanks to the efforts of the staff and military who have delivered this evacuation – the largest of any Western country."
“We continue to work intensively, alongside international partners, to maintain the ceasefire and bring an end to fighting, the single most important thing we can do to ensure the safety of British nationals and others in Sudan" they added.
It is understood some 1,650 people have now been evacuated from Sudan, but thousands more British citizens may remain.
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy had urged the Government not to “turn away” British residents without passports, including NHS doctors trapped in the conflict zone.
Criticism has also been levelled at the pace of the British evacuation and the decision not to offer escorts to people travelling to the airfield.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden chaired a Cobra meeting on Saturday to discuss the security situation in Sudan in advance of the final flight taking off.
Mr Dowden denied the Government will effectively “abandon” those who have been unable to make the potentially dangerous journey to the site with its decision to cease flights.
He told the BBC: “We are in touch with and engaging rapidly with the Sudanese Doctors’ Association to see what further support we can provide for them.”
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