'ER' moves from the hospital to Darfur

LOS ANGELES, May 4 (UPI) -- Thursday's episode of NBC's "ER," set in Sudan, was created to inform viewers about the real-life genocide in Darfur.

The episode -- shot in South Africa's Kalahari Desert -- took seven months to make, USA Today reported. It follows Mekhi Phifer's character, Dr. Greg Pratt, and Noah Wyle's Dr. John Carter as they treat patients at a Darfur refugee clinic.

"When I first read the script, I didn't know much about Darfur," Phifer said. "After reading it, and reading up on (Darfur), you have to be affected by it. You have to feel it. There's a basic genocide going on."

Executive Producer David Zabel, who wrote the episode with R. Scott Gemmill, said his mission was to spread the word to "ER's" 12.1 million viewers about the crisis in the region.

"The advantage of (informing) through an entertainment program is that it makes it a little more palatable to the audience" than it might be in a news story, he said.

More information about Darfur can be found on the series' Web page, www.nbc.com/ER/, USA Today said.