Khartoum, April 17 (IANS) Sudan’s healthcare system is collapsing two years into a devastating conflict between the army and paramilitary forces, with most hospitals shut in conflict zones and disease outbreaks spreading, government and international aid groups warned this week.
Marking two years since war erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country faces worsening health risks and rising malnutrition, officials and aid workers said.
“The healthcare system, in all its facets, has become a victim of the war,” Sudan’s Health Ministry said in a report issued this week, citing immense challenges and devastating public health consequences.
The ministry reported that nearly 70 per cent of hospitals in conflict-hit states like Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan are out of service. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) gave a starker estimate, stating 70 to 80 per cent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas are non-functional, leaving two out of three civilians without medical care.
More than 250 hospitals nationwide have been forced to close, and over 60 per cent of pharmacies and drug warehouses have been looted or destroyed, the health ministry report added. Remaining facilities face severe shortages of medicines, equipment, and staff, the ICRC warned.
The collapse has fuelled disease outbreaks. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Sudan faces spreading measles, cholera, and diphtheria, driven by poor living conditions and disrupted vaccination campaigns. The Health Ministry also cited rising malaria and dengue fever cases.
“Two years into the conflict, Sudan’s health system is at breaking point,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement. “Hospitals have run out of supplies; health workers are under threat and disease is spreading in areas we can barely reach,” added WHO Regional Director Hanan Balkhy.
Acute malnutrition is widespread, particularly among children under five, the health ministry said. MSF noted that 60 per cent of Sudan’s 50 million people need humanitarian assistance.
Even in relatively safer areas, services are overwhelmed by displacement, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Al-Nao Hospital is a prime example … facing near-exhaustion as it serves the majority of patients in the safe areas of Omdurman,” Tasneem Al-Yasa, a medical director at the hospital, told Xinhua.
Patients undertake perilous journeys for care. “I came here after a difficult journey from the East Nile area,” kidney patient Ibrahim Mahmoud told Xinhua at a dialysis centre in Omdurman.
“Travelling is dangerous…but we hope things will change.”
The health ministry estimates total losses to the sector at nearly $11.04 billion, covering infrastructure, equipment, and medical supplies.
The conflict between the SAF and RSF, which erupted on April 15, 2023, over tensions linked to a planned political transition, has killed tens of thousands, displaced over 15 million people, and left Sudan facing what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. UN agencies warn the country is nearing famine, with its healthcare system collapsed and accurate casualty counts nearly impossible to verify.
–IANS
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