A consultant neurosurgeon at Cork University Hospital has called on the Government to help evacuate 19 Sudanese doctors who ordinarily live and practice in Ireland, and their families, to safety from Sudan.
Dr Wail Abdu Mohammed is also a past president of the Sudanese Doctors Union of Ireland (SDUI).
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One, he said four of the 19 doctors have dependant families trapped with them "who have been living throughout the hell of the war over the last 17 or 18 days".
He said their circumstances were "immensely difficult" as the number of people displaced or seeking refuge increases "by the day" and "they are living a very difficult and different life to the life that they used to when they were working here in Ireland".
It comes as persistent fighting which began mid-April between rival generals in Sudan undermined efforts to firm up a truce.
At least 550 people have been killed and 4,926 wounded, according to the latest health ministry figures which are likely to be incomplete.
The conflict has created a humanitarian crisis, with about 100,000 people forced to flee with little food or water to neighbouring countries, the UN said.
Dr Mohammed said while the doctors in Sudan are employed by the Health Service Executive, the complication is they are not Irish citizens, but Irish visa holders.
He said: "I think if they are good enough individuals to look after the Irish people in the Irish health service, and they are good enough to be entrusted to save lives here in the Irish system, I think they should be good enough for their lives to be saved."
He said the UK made exemptions for Sudanese doctors who work for the NHS to be included among British nationals in their evacuation process, "so it is common decency for our colleagues in the health service here who've only been to Sudan for the last three or four weeks to celebrate Eid and they couldn't make it back since the war broke out".
He said "engagement" between the SDUI and the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Department of Foreign Affairs and HSE, had so far "not been fruitful".
"We've been given promises but I know that all the efforts so far and the processes taking place have been focused on the Irish citizens and nationals, understandably, but I think those 19 doctors and their dependant families who've been living in Ireland, paying tax in Ireland, who've been serving the community and who lived and served the Irish community throughout the Covid pandemic, they haven't been included in that plan.
"I think the number isn't that enormous to be excluded, and would be cost-effective for them to be included in any plan for evacuation."
Dr Mohammed said the doctors' jobs were vacant now and it would cost the Irish taxpayer money to fill those roles by locums and would be cost-effective for them to return to work as soon as possible.
He said some of them have been living in Ireland for a number of years and have been a great asset to the health service and deserve to be included in the Department of Foreign Affairs and HSE's evacuation plan.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was maintaining contact with the visa holders and others in Sudan who were trying to make their way out of the country.
