MSF permanently shuts down Ulang Hospital in South Sudan after attack
The decision follows an incident in April when armed men stormed the facility, threatened staff and looted medical supplies, forcing the hospital to temporarily suspend its services.
Medical humanitarian organisation, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has permanently shut down operations at its hospital in Ulang County, Upper Nile, South Sudan, citing constant security threats.
The decision follows an incident in April when armed men stormed the facility, threatened staff and looted medical supplies, forcing the hospital to temporarily suspend its services.
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According to South Sudan's Eye Radio, the temporary suspension has now become permanent, with MSF also withdrawing its support from 13 primary health facilities in the area due to ongoing security threats.
MSF has been operating a secondary healthcare hospital alongside a network of decentralised primary healthcare services in Ulang since 2018. In 2024 alone, MSF teams provided over 10,000 outpatient consultations, admitted 3,284 patients for inpatient care, and assisted with 650 maternal deliveries.
Over the years, the 60-bed hospital has served as a critical facility for communities affected by violence, disease outbreaks and limited access to healthcare.
The closure of the Ulang hospital has left thousands of people without access to secondary healthcare in a stretch covering over 200 kilometres, from the Ethiopian border to Malakal.
Speaking after the April incident, MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan, Zakariya Mwatia, insisted that safeguarding the safety of personnel in the region was a priority for the organisation.
"The safety of our staff and patients is our foremost priority. We are taking all necessary measures to evacuate our teams as we fear further escalation of violence," Mwatia said in a statement then.
"This unacceptable act of violence shows a complete disregard for humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law, and it has directly affected our ability to provide care at a time when it is most urgently needed."
The April attack was not the first time that MSF officials were attacked in Ulang.
In January 2025, two marked MSF boats carrying six staff were attacked by armed men while returning to Ulang after delivering medical supplies to Nasir County Hospital. The incident forced MSF to suspend all outreach activities in the region.
Another MSF medical facility in Old Fangaka was also attacked by armed individuals on May 3. The attack began at around 4:30 am when two helicopter gunships first dropped a bomb on the MSF pharmacy, burning it to the ground, before opening fire on the town of Old Fangak for around 30 minutes.
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