Updated: 9 August 2025 23:38:25
Sudanese Doctors Reject Move to Undermine Union Legitimacy
moatinoon
The Preparatory Committee of the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, in coordination with Sudanese doctors’ bodies abroad, has strongly rejected and condemned a recent decision by the Registrar General of Labor Organizations to form a steering committee for what was termed the “General Professional Union of Doctors.” The Syndicate described the move as an attempt to undermine the union legitimacy it secured through free and fair elections held in March 2023.
The Preparatory Committee labeled the decision a “full-scale coup against the democratic path” chosen by Sudanese doctors, calling it the culmination of efforts by the “defunct regime” to take control of trade unions and divert them from their true mission of defending members’ rights and serving the causes of public health and the nation. It stressed that the Syndicate’s legitimacy derives from the votes and trust of doctors in the 2023 elections — which were widely recognized as independent and transparent — and highlighted the backing of Sudanese doctors’ associations abroad for the parent Syndicate.
The committee, as the sole legitimate body representing all Sudanese doctors, called for total and unequivocal rejection of the decision, “considering it null and void.” It urged all doctors across Sudan to rally around their elected Syndicate and resist what it described as a “fierce assault on their independence.”
The statement, issued on Saturday, also appealed to all free professional and trade union bodies, civil society organizations, and revolutionary forces to stand in solidarity against what it called “this dictatorial regression.” The Syndicate warned that state interference in the formation of unions risks isolating Sudanese unions from their regional and international counterparts.
In conclusion, the joint statement — signed by the Preparatory Committee of the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, the Sudanese Doctors’ Union of Ireland and the UK, the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate in Canada, the Sudanese Doctors’ Association in Australia and New Zealand, the Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA), and the Sudanese Doctors’ Association in Qatar, affirmed that the struggle for an independent union is an inseparable part of the broader fight of the Sudanese people for a free, democratic, united nation founded on justice and prosperity.
