It was reported on 30 August that humanitarian conditions in the Sudanese city of El Obeid as well as two camps on the outskirts of the city are deteriorating. Civilians continue to flood in from the surrounding countryside having been displaced by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.
According to the UN there were more than 200,000 people who arrived in the first half of the year, and according to government figures cited by Save the Children, these have since been joined by more than 15,000 families who have arrived since mid-July.
Maryam, a humanitarian volunteer whose name had been changed for her safety commented: “The situation is very harsh and is deteriorating as El Obeid is receiving IDPs [internally displaced people] on a daily basis … The city is shockingly overcrowded.”
Maryam also noted that those arriving recently, came on foot, carrying almost nothing: “They also suffer from a shortage of food and they definitely arrive traumatised.”
El Obeid was a large city before the outbreak of the civil war in 2003, being home to around half a million people.
Collapse of healthcare in Sudan
Meanwhile Doctors of the World, who have been monitoring the healthcare situation in Sudan throughout the conflict have issued a serious warning that the healthcare system in the country is on the brink of collapse.
Hassan Hussain, the Policy and Advocacy Manager – Participation Lead has laid bare the extent of the crisis.
He has stated that in reality it is wealth that determines survival in the civil war.
Hassan goes on to explain how for three long years now, he has witnessed family, friends and former colleagues having to face up to impossible choices. Mothers panic buying food before shelves empty, children forced from schools, and families searching for medicines no longer available.
The war is destroying the economy while inflation is soaring. All this is causing the healthcare system in Sudan to collapse.
He goes on to say: “The fighting has destroyed farms, factories, supply chains and economic networks. Pharmacies rely on medicine brought across borders from Egypt or Saudi Arabia, at prices families cannot afford. Many are dying from dengue fever, unable to pay for treatment.
“Money can mean the difference between staying and reaching safety.”
Hassan’s own family fled away east from Khartoum, which he now describes as little more than a ghost town, with no water supply, basic services or functioning healthcare system.
Hassan then notes that “hospitals are struggling to remain operational, with staff working at severely limited capacity and without sufficient resources. Basic medicines are increasingly unavailable or unaffordable. For families already struggling to survive, accessing healthcare is becoming another impossible choice”.
When people cannot afford food, transport, medicine, or hospital care, wealth determines who lives.”.
Access to healthcare is now becoming a an issue of survival. Doctors of the world are continuing to work alongside local partners to keep healthcare services going.
Meanwhile, the deadly civil war continues, and the world continues to look away.
To help the people of Sudan to have a function healthcare system please see here.
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