Only surgeon for 2 million, American doctor perseveres in war-torn Sudan

Amid violence and aid shortages, Dr. Tom Catena operates the only hospital in the remote region of the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, home to what he calls “one of the worst humanitarian crises.”

As the only doctor at a hospital serving more than 2 million people, Dr. Tom Catena works seven days a week and is on call every night — and still makes time for morning Mass.

An American Catholic missionary and the only surgeon at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the remote Nuba Mountains of Gidel, Sudan, Catena has spent more than two decades in Sudan in spite of civil war and conflict.

Catena told EWTN News that Sudan is “home to one of the worst humanitarian crises. The United Nations has described the civil war, which began in April 2023, as the most devastating humanitarian crisis, killing more than 150,000 people and displacing another 12 million people. In the region, the mother and infant mortality rate for maternity care is among the highest in the world.

“There really is no such thing as an average day here, and that’s part of what makes this work so demanding,” Catena said. “At Mother of Mercy Hospital, we are the only major medical facility serving more than 2 million people in the Nuba Mountains, so the volume and variety of what we see is staggering.”

“On any given day, I might be performing emergency surgery on a trauma victim from a bombing or drone strike, then turning around to treat a child with malaria or malnutrition and then delivering a baby,” he said.

The Sudanese army reportedly killed 48 people, mostly children and students, in a December 2025 drone strike that was the deadliest attack on civilians in the Nuba Mountains since the civil war began in April 2023.

“The crisis in Sudan is not new but continues to make delivering humanitarian and medical aid exponentially harder,” Catena said. “Supply lines are disrupted, so we are perpetually short on medications, surgical supplies, and even basic necessities like clean water and food for patients.” ​

The crisis is aggravated by blockades that in some areas prevent humanitarian teams and supplies from entering. In addition, the humanitarian response only has about 5% of the funding it needs to address the famine, according to Action Against Hunger.

“We lose people that we shouldn’t lose simply because we don’t have the resources,” Catena said. “That is the most heartbreaking part of this work — knowing that lives are being lost not because medicine doesn’t exist to save them but because it cannot reach us.”

“Despite all of this, we keep going because if we stop, there is no one else,” he said. “The people here have no other option, and neither do I.”

“What I wish people understood is that Sudan is home to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now, and yet it receives a fraction of the attention and resources that other conflicts do,” Catena said.

The Nuba Mountains are considered one of the most remote places in the world. Spanning 30,000 square miles, the region relies on dirt roads and is further isolated due to blockades.

Catena said that local humanitarian groups and grassroots efforts are “critical.”

“Large international organizations often cannot access places like the Nuba Mountains due to the conflict and logistical barriers,” he continued. “It is the people on the ground who keep things running when no one else can get in.”

“The people of the Nuba Mountains have been suffering for years — from bombings, from displacement, from starvation,” he said. “These are real people, families, children, who deserve the same dignity and care as anyone else on this planet.”

From 1989 to 2019, Sudan faced 30 years of political upheaval and violence, including the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s. In 2023, violence erupted again between the government’s army, the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — both of which have been accused of war crimes.

Catena called the hospital “a symbol of hope.”

“Mother of Mercy Hospital is the only major referral hospital for more than 2 million people in this region,” Catena said. “We provide surgical care, maternal health services, treatment for infectious diseases, malnutrition programs — everything that a community needs to survive.”

“But beyond the medical work, the hospital has become a symbol of hope and stability for the people here,” Catena said. “It tells them that they have not been forgotten, that someone cares enough to stay.”

“My faith is really the foundation of everything I do here,” Catena said. “It’s what brought me to the Nuba Mountains in the first place, and it’s what keeps me here when things get incredibly difficult.”

Catena founded the hospital and has been providing care there since 2008 as the only surgeon permanently in the region.

“I am a Catholic, and I believe deeply that we are called to serve the most vulnerable among us,” Catena said. “This belief motivates me through each day in the operating room, at the bedside, in the chaos of mass casualty events.”

When asked about Catholic social teaching on solidarity, Catena said that solidarity “demands action.”

“Solidarity is not just a theological concept for me — it is something I live every single day,” he said. “Solidarity means more than feeling sympathy from a distance. It means being present with people in their suffering, standing alongside them, and refusing to leave even when the situation becomes challenging.”

“True solidarity demands more than thoughts and prayers — it demands action,” Catena continued. “It demands that people advocate for the forgotten, that resources flow to the places where they are needed most, and that we refuse to accept a world where millions of people are left to suffer in silence.”

Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, a nonprofit founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, exemplifies this solidarity, according to Catena.

“Aurora embodies the principle of solidarity in a tangible way by identifying and supporting humanitarians who are on the ground, doing the difficult and often invisible work of saving lives,” he said. “They recognize that solidarity is not charity from above, it is showing up and staying.”

Alongside his work in Sudan, Catena has chaired Aurora’s advisory board since 2018.

“Aurora’s mission is to support humanitarians working at the grassroots level, people who are embedded in their communities and who will remain long after the cameras leave,” Catena said. “That model of empowering local actors is not just effective, it is essential.”

“The people of the Nuba Mountains deserve nothing less than our full solidarity, and I will continue to call on the world to provide it,” he said.

Catena stressed the “critical importance of getting resources directly to the humanitarians working on the ground in crisis zones like this one.”

“There are local health workers and small organizations operating in some of the most dangerous and forgotten places on earth, doing extraordinary things with almost nothing,” Catena said.

Amid the countless daily challenges the hospital faces, Catena is inspired by the faith that surrounds him.

“I find that in the midst of suffering, God’s presence becomes even more real,” Catena continued. “The people here have an extraordinary faith themselves, and that inspires me tremendously.”

“We carry each other through the darkest moments, and I believe that is the Holy Spirit at work among us,” he said.

For more information about Dr. Tom Catena’s work, visit https://www.healthfornuba.com/.

Read original article