Khartoum- After about 21 months of war in Sudan, the health sector is still suffering from many problems, while the improvement of the security conditions in parts of Khartoum State and the restoration of control over Sinja, the capital of Sennar State, and other cities in the state, helped to resume the activity of health institutions.
Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have been waging a war that has left more than 20,000 dead and more than 14 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations and local authorities.
The Ministry of Health estimates the losses suffered by the health sector, including the destruction and looting of health institutions, medical equipment, ambulances, drug warehouses and pharmaceutical supplies, at $11 billion, in addition to the destruction of pharmaceutical factories in the country.
Federal Minister of Health Haitham Muhammad Ibrahim explains that 75% of the 702 hospitals – including 540 affiliated with his ministry – are partially functioning, as they have been vandalized and medical devices and equipment have been looted, and others have been completely destroyed.
Ibrahim told Al Jazeera Net that the health situation in the safe states – which are controlled by the army – is stable and the health institutions work with high efficiency, and are over capacity, because they host large numbers of displaced citizens from the states affected by the war.
As for the areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, the Minister of Health describes the situation as very difficult, and there are health institutions on the verge of collapse, and the government can only provide basic services in those areas, such as maternity care, vaccination serums against some diseases, and emergency medicines for tuberculosis and AIDS.
Regarding the management of health institutions in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, the Minister of Health says that there are institutions managed by cadres affiliated with his ministry, and others operated by organizations, most notably Doctors Without Borders, in states in the Darfur region, along with hospitals run by the Rapid Support Forces, which is a medical administration of their own alone. Such as Al-Razi, Al-Dawli, and East Nile Hospitals in Khartoum State.
During his visit to Port Sudan, the temporary administrative capital of Sudan, last August, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the dilapidated health system in Sudan “has reached the stage of collapse,” explaining that between 70% and 80% of the institutions and facilities Health stopped working.
Underground treatment
In the Darfur region, an official in the regional government revealed to Al Jazeera Net that the conditions of health institutions are at their worst, due to the Rapid Support Forces’ bombing of all hospitals and health centers in El Fasher, the capital of the region, which has a population of more than two million people after hundreds of thousands were displaced there, in addition to the nearby camps for the displaced. .
The official – who requested to remain anonymous – explains that Al-Fasher includes 5 government hospitals, 7 health centers, in addition to private hospitals, most of which were destroyed by the Rapid Support Forces, leaving only the military hospital and the obstetrics and gynecology hospital partially functioning after it was bombed more than 10 times. . The army helped provide life-saving medicines via airdrop.
Residents resorted to digging trenches inside the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital and turning it into temporary medical facilities to treat patients, and fortified it with containers and sandbags to turn it into a safe haven for the sick, wounded, and health personnel, according to the government official.
The official adds that the Rapid Support Forces have transformed government hospitals in El Daein, the capital of East Darfur State, Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur State, and El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur State, into centers to serve their forces, as well as citizens.
Operations with phone lights
A picture of a number of doctors at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, performing an operation on a patient using the light of phones, sparked controversy about the state of the health service in Sudan.
The photo, published by the Coordination of the El Fasher Resistance Committees in North Darfur State, revealed the extent of the doctors’ dedication and their tireless attempts to do their work despite the bad conditions, as they used “phone lights” to treat patients after a power outage.
For his part, Minni Arko Minawi, Governor of the Darfur region, commented on the photo in his tweet on the
Minawi continued: “In the cover of night, inside shelters and to avoid targeting the transnational Rapid Support marches, these operations are carried out with portable flashlights,” and he concluded his tweet, “The world must not allow these terrorists to persist in killing.”
The situation in Khartoum
A recent report – seen by Al Jazeera Net – indicates that the war has greatly affected the health system in Khartoum State, which has 30 government hospitals, dozens of private hospitals, and more than 100 government health centers.
The war also affected hundreds of organizations’ centers and private centers, and institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Health in Khartoum State, the headquarters of administrations in the seven localities, the headquarters of the Medical Commission, the Central Ambulance, and the medicine supply were damaged.
According to the report, some hospitals located in areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum and East Nile localities are run by organizations and volunteers, and the Rapid Support Forces use them to treat their wounded, and some of them have been converted into military barracks.
On the other hand, arrangements are being made to operate a number of hospitals and health centers in the areas where the Rapid Support Forces were deployed after regaining control of them from the army in recent weeks.