Healthcare system of war-torn Sudan pushed to “point of collapse

Khartoum, Sudan | Xinhua |  Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Thursday about the bleak reality of Sudanese people struggling to get critical medical help amid the country’s deadly conflict.

The conflict, which started nearly six months ago between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has pushed the country’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse, the MSF said in a statement.

While the organization noted that “Sudanese health staff and volunteers are struggling to respond to people’s medical needs,” the Sudanese health authorities have said diseases and epidemics continue to spread in the country.

“Sudan’s crisis epitomizes a catastrophic failure of humanity,” Christos Christou, the international president of MSF, was quoted by the statement as saying.

“Across Sudan, the fragile health system is struggling, emergency rooms are congested, and many hospitals have closed completely,” Christou said.

Frauke Ossig, MSF head of mission, complained that hospital staff are at their wits’ end trying to treat patients in critical condition due to the lack of medicine.

Moreover, the organization said its humanitarian efforts are being hindered by bureaucratic and administrative hurdles, listing some of them as restrictions on the movement of its staff, rejections of travel permits, and bans on specific supplies, such as those needed for surgery.

In the statement, the MSF called for the removal of administrative blockages on the movement of medical and humanitarian staff and the delivery of supplies.

In a statement on Thursday, Sudan’s Acting Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim acknowledged the deterioration of public health in the country due to the ongoing conflict.

“The deterioration in the public health sector has led to the emergence of epidemics such as malaria and some childhood diseases,” said Ibrahim.

Sudan has recently been witnessing the increased spread of seasonal diseases, including dengue fever, malaria and cholera.

The North African country has been mired in deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF since April 15, which have resulted in at least 3,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries, according to the Health Ministry. ■