Claims HSE not making effort to help doctors with Irish visas stranded in Sudan

Vivienne Clarke

A Sudanese-born Irish doctor has asked why the HSE is not making efforts to assist doctors with valid Irish visas who have been stranded in Sudan during the recent conflict.

Dr Aia Mohamed told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show "the silence from the HSE is deafening".

The doctors involved were "the backbone" of the Irish health service, Dr Mohamed said, adding: "I cannot understand. Where is the HSE in all this?"

She added she was also upset that valid Irish visa-holders were at the mercy of the rules of other EU member states, asking how healthcare providers could be expected to go into work every day when they were worried about their families who were in a war zone.

Dr Mohamed said the father of a consultant who works at a Dublin hospital, who holds a valid Irish visa, had gone to the airport but was not allowed on a flight as his son, through whom he had the visa, was not present.

"We need a plan for these people", Dr Mohamed urged.

One Irish visa-holder stranded in Sudan was a doctor who had worked here for four years and was close to getting citizenship, Dr Mohamed said.

"She does not qualify for evacuation as she is not a citizen, but she has a valid visa. She is a serving member of the Irish community, she worked all through Covid," she added.

Under EU evacuation guidelines, only citizens of the relevant EU member state and their accompanying dependents can get on flights, Dr Mohamed explained. However, she argued anyone with a valid Irish visa should also be included.