Atia Abdalla
Credentials
Humanitarian Cause
Emergency Response, Rescue in emergency situations, Emergency healthcare, Healthcare and Food Security, Provision of medical services, Supporting communities in climate-vulnerable regions
Impact Location
Sudan
Occupation
Physician / Secretary General, Sudan Doctors Union
Photo Gallery
In 2023, violent clashes erupted in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces amid a sudden power struggle that plunged the country into civil conflict. In spite of the danger, Dr. Atia Abdalla remained at his post in Al-Kalakla Turkish Hospital, continuing to treat civilians wounded by shelling, airstrikes, and street battles.
Each day, reaching the hospital became a life-threatening journey. He walked more than twelve miles through destroyed streets and armed checkpoints, surrounded by heavily armed soldiers. To avoid drawing attention, he left his medical uniform and ID behind and never traveled by car.
Inside the hospital, waiting rooms overflowed with patients suffering from gunshot wounds, crush injuries from collapsed buildings, and severe bleeding—many of them women and children. In the chaos, Dr. Abdalla and a small group of exhausted colleagues organized themselves into shifts to treat as many people as possible.
“We were not prepared for the casualties we saw,” Dr. Abdalla notes.
Nearly one hundred patients passed through the hospital each day. As fighting intensified, battle injuries surged, yet the hospital also remained the only functioning center in the area able to care for pregnant women and sick children. It became the last operational facility in all of south Khartoum still providing maternity and pediatric services—until May 2024, when MSF was forced to evacuate its team from the hospital.
Even as medical facilities were looted and healthcare workers threatened for not choosing a side, Dr. Abdalla has never wavered, continuing to treat trauma patients, performing emergency procedures, and organizing care amid power cuts, water shortages, and extreme overcrowding.
Beyond his bedside duties, Dr. Abdalla carries another heavy responsibility. As Secretary General of the Sudan Doctors Union, he has helped document casualty numbers, spoken out against attacks on healthcare, and warned the world about the rapid collapse of Sudan’s medical system. His voice has reached international audiences through interviews with NPR, BBC, The Guardian, and The New York Times.