A member of the Sudan Doctors’ Committee, Dr Alaeddin Awad Naqd, assesses what the health system has been subjected to as a “collapse”; Due to the accumulations and negligence that have occurred during the successive crises to which the country has been exposed in recent years.
As for the current armed conflict between the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces, he told Sky News Arabia that “all efforts to reform the system have been aborted”.
Hospitals in numbers
A member of the Sudan Doctors Committee is monitoring the collapse of more than 80% of the country’s hospitals, as follows:
59 hospitals in Sudan are out of service out of 82. 54 hospitals in Khartoum, of which only 10 are functioning. 23 hospitals are operating in Khartoum and surrounding states, such as Nile and Gezira, with limited capacity. The attack affected 13 hospitals, including 9 in Khartoum and 4 in states such as North Kordofan. There is a water and electricity cut in some hospitals. Hospitals have been subjected to “systematic and paid-for attacks by looting gangs”.
Awad Naqd accuses the former regime in power, which was led by President Omar al-Bashir, and the Muslim Brotherhood of hiring “gangs” to destroy hospital infrastructure and rob pharmacies.
Urgent popular initiatives
Faced with these developments, the Sudanese have launched initiatives to save what can be saved, including medical activist Ahmed Obama, who told Sky News Arabia that his initiative came from Al Nou Hospital in the state of ‘Omdurman.
The initiative includes:
Monitor cases requiring treatment and refer them to doctors. Delivery of doctors to their place of work in case of lack of transport or adequate security. Provide medication and treatment to people with chronic illnesses.
Many hospitals and medical supply companies are located in combat zones; This has resulted in doctors sometimes being unable to get to the workplace, and companies being unable to deliver drugs to hospitals, according to Ahmed Obama.
Violent clashes erupted between the Sudanese army and the country’s Rapid Support Forces on April 15 in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere, amid an exchange of accusations between the two sides over who started to attack the other.
An ambulance for 4 million
One of the indicators of the deficit in health services following the clashes and the lack of security, as Obama puts it, is that “in Khartoum there are no ambulances, and in Omdurman there are no there is only one ambulance serving 4 million people”.
Dr. Awad Naqd, in turn, complains about difficulties in reaching hospitals for an additional reason, which is the fuel crisis.
Despite these difficulties, the medical cadres try to work as much as they can, as he explains: “The same medical cadres have been working non-stop in the hospitals since the start of the April 15 clashes, and they are suffering from fatigue and exhaustion as the result of continuous work without rest.”
Some medical personnel overcame the fuel crisis by going to the hospital “on foot” to bring relief to the wounded and sick. Currently, the “Al Nou” hospital serves 2,000 patients a day and 200 medical staff work there. according to Ahmed Obama, who works inside.
Regarding the nature of the injuries the hospital is currently treating, he says: “There are people injured by gunshot wounds, and others as a result of fatal shrapnel, in addition to those with diseases chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. The hospital has a dialysis center which serves 200 patients after most centers in Khartoum were closed and patients were transferred to this hospital.”
Medication crisis
In a week, Obama expects Al Nou Hospital to experience a new crisis, namely the lack of emergency medicine and treatment, such as painkillers and treatment for angina and blood clots. .
Dr Alaeddin Naqd agrees with him, saying, “If the clashes continue, we won’t find a single functioning hospital in all of Sudan.”
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