Kidney patients in Omdurman are facing mounting obstacles in accessing life-saving dialysis and essential medicines, as the conflict in Sudan continues to cripple the country’s already overstretched healthcare system.
Footage captured on Saturday at the Al Nmou Educational Hospital shows patients undergoing dialysis amid widespread destruction, with damaged medical equipment scattered across the facility.
“The centre is decommissioned due to a power outage that affected most of Khartoum during the early days of the conflict. As a result, dialysis services for kidney failure patients were disrupted, causing the death of 3,800 patients, according to the latest statistics from the National Centre for Kidney Diseases and Surgery,” said Dr Othman Al Zubair, Director of the Kidney Dialysis Centre in Khartoum.
Abdelrahman Babker, a patient receiving treatment, said the situation had become unbearable.
“It is a real ordeal. If you don’t have 20,000 or 25,000 [Sudanese pounds], you won’t be able to access the centre not to mention the cost of transportation and many essential medical supplies that are unavailable at the centre. We hope conditions will get better soon.”
According to the National Centre for Kidney Diseases, 3,800 patients with kidney failure have died since the conflict began in mid-April 2023, largely due to the suspension of dialysis services or the destruction of treatment facilities.
In an effort to alleviate the crisis, Sudan’s Ministry of Health received 80 dialysis machines from the Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS) on December 1, 2023. The health minister said the donation aimed to 'bridge the significant gap' in dialysis provision nationwide.
Since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, more than 20,000 people have been killed, around 33,000 injured, and 12 million displaced. The UN estimates that 25.6 million people are now facing acute food insecurity.
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