War paralyses healthcare in Sudan’s Blue Nile region
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Radio Tamazuj
Illustrative image · Bobby Dimas · Pexels · Licence PexelsWar and displacement have paralysed most health facilities in Sudan’s Blue Nile region, where shortages of medicines and funding are worsening patient care. Only facilities in the Agedi area remain operational, according to the regional director-general of health quoted by Radio Tamazuj, while Damazin Hospital is treating more patients and displaced people.
War and population displacement have put almost all health facilities in Sudan’s Blue Nile state out of service, worsening shortages of medicines and funding. The region’s director-general of health told Radio Tamazuj that only facilities in the Agedi area were still operating.
Damazin University Hospital, which is receiving patients and displaced people from Blue Nile and other Sudanese states, is operating at full capacity. General practitioner Jihad Abdelghani reported a significant increase in admissions, particularly from the south of the region, and shortages of malaria medicines. Attacks and destruction have forced facilities in Kurmuk and Geissan to stop operating, according to health authorities.
Rising costs are forcing more and more patients to buy their treatment from private pharmacies. A patient with recurring dengue fever cited the high cost of Panadol intravenous fluid and the fact that artesunate was not covered by health insurance. Dengue cases in Blue Nile had already exceeded 6,000 on 8 October, according to an earlier report.
