South Sudan's civil war has seen shocking attacks on health facilities, said medical charity Doctors Without Borders-Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a press conference Tuesday.

In a report entitled “South Sudan Conflict: Violence against Healthcare,” MSF said that during the six month war at least 58 people have been killed in hospitals, including patients and health workers, and health facilities were ransacked or burnt on at least six occasions.

The group said attacks on hospitals and destruction of medical facilities deny medical care to South Sudan’s most vulnerable people, and frighten people from seeking vital treatment.

“Patients have been shot in their beds, and lifesaving medical facilities have been burned and effectively destroyed,” said MSF head of mission Raphael Gorgeu.  “These attacks have far-reaching consequences for hundreds of thousands of people who are cut off from medical services.”

MSF said that at least 14 patients and one Ministry of Health staff member were killed in December at Bor Hospital, and fourteen people, including eleven patients shot in their beds, were killed at Malakal Teaching Hospital in February.  At least 28 people were killed in April in Bentiu, including at least one Ministry of Health staff member.

The organizations condemned the attacks on health facilities and patients and called on all parties to the conflict to ensure that all people in South Sudan can safely access medical care without fear of violence.

Gorgeu said hospitals have been looted in Bor, Malakal, Bentiu, Nasir and Leer, often during periods of heavy fighting.

“MSF’s hospital in Leer, southern Unity state, was destroyed along with most of the town in late January and early February,” he said.  “Entire buildings were reduced to ash, and equipment needed for surgery, the storage of vaccines, blood transfusions, and laboratory work were destroyed.”

Leer hospital, which had been built over the course of decades, provided lifesaving medical care for approximately 270,000 people, Gorgeu said.

In May, MSF resumed some activities there as people started to return to Leer.  Staff members treated more than 1,600 children for malnutrition in the first three weeks, though the organisation said it is still unable to offer anything close to its previous services including routine vaccinations and emergency surgeries.

The group said that because of the crisis they have lost track of patients with chronic illnesses in need of regular treatment, some of whom may have died.