NHS doctors stranded in Sudan offer seats on evacuation flights after turnaround

NHS doctors stranded in Sudan have been offered seats by the government on the latest evacuation flights from the war-torn country.

Those who want to leave have been told they only have until Saturday afternoon to get to an airport outside of Khartoum to get cleared for the last flight.

The government has been criticized for refusing to extend its eligibility criteria to those with UK work visas, including a number of NHS doctors.

But last night, that position seems to have changed. Sharing the appeal on social media, the Sudan Junior Physicians Association said: “The government is considering extending the evacuation timeline and is urgently seeking to determine the lists of doctors if a decision is made.”

Hours before the deadline, the BBC now reports that the Ministry of Health has circulated a text message urging NHS doctors to go to Wadi Seidna Airport.

The text calls on all local health professionals to bring dependents and proof of employment to the NHS, according to the BBC.

The State Department was asked to comment on the situation.

Some 1,573 people on 13 flights were evacuated from an airport near the capital Khartoum, but thousands of British citizens could remain.

It comes amid criticism of the pace of the British evacuation, which was given more time after a three-day extension of the truce between the warring generals was agreed on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden denied that the government’s decision to suspend flights would effectively “give up” those unable to make the potentially dangerous trip to the airport.

The government again came under pressure to expand the eligibility criteria for evacuation after a declining number of British passport holders was cited as the reason for the withdrawal of financial assistance.

Downing Street has rejected calls to expand the criteria beyond British citizens and their immediate families.

There have been concerns that the current approach could lead to families breaking up or leaving some members behind, with Labor urging ministers to use longer deadlines to save others.

Following Saturday’s decision to halt evacuation flights, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy urged the government not to “deport” British residents without passports, including NHS doctors, who are reportedly trapped in the conflict zone.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told the BBC: “We are in contact with the Sudan Doctors Association and are working quickly with them to see what additional support we can offer them.”