As hospitals close and doctors flee, Sudan’s health care system is collapsing
'The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan,' says Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general
Published: 03:05 PM,May 01,2023 | EDITED : 07:05 PM,May 01,2023
An abandoned hospital in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, as deadly fighting continues in Sudan between rival generals' forces. - AFP
With the battle for control of Sudan entering its third week, health care services are rapidly unraveling in the nation’s capital, Khartoum, a grim consequence of the brutal fighting that has raised fears the conflict could devolve into a wider humanitarian crisis.
The total collapse of the health care system could be days away, the Sudan Doctors’ Trade Union warned.
Hospitals have been shelled, and two-thirds of those in Khartoum have closed, according to the World Health Organization. More than a dozen health care workers have been killed, officials say. Beyond that, “hidden victims” are dying of illness and disease as basic medical services have become scarce, said Dr Abdullah Atia, secretary-general of the doctors union.
“We receive a lot of calls every day: ‘Where shall I go?’” he said. “These are the questions we are not able to answer.”
The fighting that erupted April 15 between a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Army — both led by warring generals — has left more than 500 people dead and thousands of others hurt, the WHO said, throwing Africa’s third-largest nation into chaos as one declared cease-fire after another has collapsed.
Millions of civilians remained trapped. The latest truce to allow civilians to escape was to end at midnight Sunday, and although the Rapid Support Forces said it would extend a humanitarian cease-fire for three more days, fighting was reported in the capital.
The Sudanese Army agreed in a statement Sunday to extend the truce, but it has accused the Rapid Support Forces of violating the truce and of occupying a hospital. The Rapid Support Forces, in turn, has said the army has been looting medical supplies.
In response to the worsening situation, the United Nations secretary-general’s office said it was “immediately” sending Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, to Sudan.
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said.
Other nations have scrambled to evacuate their citizens by any means necessary, as the situation has deteriorated. Britain had airlifted more than 2,122 people by Saturday on 21 flights, with one more flight from Port Sudan in eastern Sudan planned for Monday, the British government announced Sunday. Americans have fled in long convoys of buses, trucks and cars heading to Egypt to the north or to Port Sudan, where they hope to board ships to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
The State Department said that a second convoy of US citizens had arrived in Port Sudan, bringing the number of evacuated Americans to just under 1,000.
The department added that fewer than 5,000 Sudanese citizens had sought the US government’s help via a “crisis intake” website set up for Americans and their families. About 16,000 Americans live in Sudan, many of them dual citizens.
Sudan’s Health Ministry is nowhere to be found, with the doctors union saying it had received no support and little communication from the government. Health facilities have been used by fighters as defensive positions, witnesses and officials say.
What’s more, the paramilitary forces have occupied the national laboratory, officials say. Samples of diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis could become weaponised in the wrong hands, said Atia, who, like others, spoke by phone from Khartoum. Uncollected bodies in morgues and others in the street are another concern, he added.
The doctors union later said in a statement that the number of bodies scattered on the streets was growing, creating “an environmental catastrophe.”
Hundreds of doctors have fled, and there are rumors that fighters with the Rapid Support Forces are kidnapping medics and forcing them at gunpoint to treat their wounded comrades. Although the abductions have not been confirmed, Atia said, dozens of members of the doctors union are unaccounted for.
The shortage of health care workers has left hospitals with barely enough staff to cope. Al Ban Jadid hospital in east Khartoum usually has a staff of at least 400 people but now has only eight health care workers. Al Joda Hospital in southern Khartoum is hobbling along with four people: a surgeon, an anesthetist and two nurses, Atia said.
Some nongovernmental organisations have offered a glimmer of hope. Doctors Without Borders said it had donated medical supplies to three hospitals in Khartoum, while the International Committee of the Red Cross announced Sunday that 8 tons of medical supplies was en route to Port Sudan from Saudi Arabia.
In a field hospital in Al Mamoura, Dr Mohamed Karrar improvised an intercostal drain system using a sterilized soda bottle to pump the blood from a gunshot victim’s punctured lung. Long shifts in the trauma ward of the now-shuttered Ibrahim Malik Teaching Hospital in central Khartoum helped prepare him, but Karrar must now contend with the sound of war while working in a living room converted into an operating room.
“I know I’m in danger in these areas,” he said, “but those sick, wounded people need me.”
At Al Nada, medical workers and their patients take cover multiple times a day under beds and tables, hiding from aerial bombardments and heavy artillery fire. Everyone is so jittery, said a doctor there, Mohamed Fath, that the sound of an oxygen canister being opened can send staff fleeing. - The New York Times
Lynsey Chutel
The writer is a journalist based in Johannesburg
The total collapse of the health care system could be days away, the Sudan Doctors’ Trade Union warned.
Hospitals have been shelled, and two-thirds of those in Khartoum have closed, according to the World Health Organization. More than a dozen health care workers have been killed, officials say. Beyond that, “hidden victims” are dying of illness and disease as basic medical services have become scarce, said Dr Abdullah Atia, secretary-general of the doctors union.
“We receive a lot of calls every day: ‘Where shall I go?’” he said. “These are the questions we are not able to answer.”
The fighting that erupted April 15 between a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Army — both led by warring generals — has left more than 500 people dead and thousands of others hurt, the WHO said, throwing Africa’s third-largest nation into chaos as one declared cease-fire after another has collapsed.
Millions of civilians remained trapped. The latest truce to allow civilians to escape was to end at midnight Sunday, and although the Rapid Support Forces said it would extend a humanitarian cease-fire for three more days, fighting was reported in the capital.
The Sudanese Army agreed in a statement Sunday to extend the truce, but it has accused the Rapid Support Forces of violating the truce and of occupying a hospital. The Rapid Support Forces, in turn, has said the army has been looting medical supplies.
In response to the worsening situation, the United Nations secretary-general’s office said it was “immediately” sending Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, to Sudan.
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said.
Other nations have scrambled to evacuate their citizens by any means necessary, as the situation has deteriorated. Britain had airlifted more than 2,122 people by Saturday on 21 flights, with one more flight from Port Sudan in eastern Sudan planned for Monday, the British government announced Sunday. Americans have fled in long convoys of buses, trucks and cars heading to Egypt to the north or to Port Sudan, where they hope to board ships to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
The State Department said that a second convoy of US citizens had arrived in Port Sudan, bringing the number of evacuated Americans to just under 1,000.
The department added that fewer than 5,000 Sudanese citizens had sought the US government’s help via a “crisis intake” website set up for Americans and their families. About 16,000 Americans live in Sudan, many of them dual citizens.
Sudan’s Health Ministry is nowhere to be found, with the doctors union saying it had received no support and little communication from the government. Health facilities have been used by fighters as defensive positions, witnesses and officials say.
What’s more, the paramilitary forces have occupied the national laboratory, officials say. Samples of diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis could become weaponised in the wrong hands, said Atia, who, like others, spoke by phone from Khartoum. Uncollected bodies in morgues and others in the street are another concern, he added.
The doctors union later said in a statement that the number of bodies scattered on the streets was growing, creating “an environmental catastrophe.”
Hundreds of doctors have fled, and there are rumors that fighters with the Rapid Support Forces are kidnapping medics and forcing them at gunpoint to treat their wounded comrades. Although the abductions have not been confirmed, Atia said, dozens of members of the doctors union are unaccounted for.
The shortage of health care workers has left hospitals with barely enough staff to cope. Al Ban Jadid hospital in east Khartoum usually has a staff of at least 400 people but now has only eight health care workers. Al Joda Hospital in southern Khartoum is hobbling along with four people: a surgeon, an anesthetist and two nurses, Atia said.
Some nongovernmental organisations have offered a glimmer of hope. Doctors Without Borders said it had donated medical supplies to three hospitals in Khartoum, while the International Committee of the Red Cross announced Sunday that 8 tons of medical supplies was en route to Port Sudan from Saudi Arabia.
In a field hospital in Al Mamoura, Dr Mohamed Karrar improvised an intercostal drain system using a sterilized soda bottle to pump the blood from a gunshot victim’s punctured lung. Long shifts in the trauma ward of the now-shuttered Ibrahim Malik Teaching Hospital in central Khartoum helped prepare him, but Karrar must now contend with the sound of war while working in a living room converted into an operating room.
“I know I’m in danger in these areas,” he said, “but those sick, wounded people need me.”
At Al Nada, medical workers and their patients take cover multiple times a day under beds and tables, hiding from aerial bombardments and heavy artillery fire. Everyone is so jittery, said a doctor there, Mohamed Fath, that the sound of an oxygen canister being opened can send staff fleeing. - The New York Times
Lynsey Chutel
The writer is a journalist based in Johannesburg