As hospitals around the Red Sea state experience partial or complete shutdown, Sudanese patients with renal failure receive care at a center in Port Sudan as others wait.
Sudan's turmoil is accompanied by a severe medical need
A Sudanese woman sits in a wheelchair at a hospital in Port Sudan on August 13, 2023 as people seek medical care amid soaring temperatures.
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"Out of 37 (dialysis) machines, we're operating 25 as there is a lot of demand and every day a machine goes out of service. So if there are no quick fixes and no medical equipment or machines, the centre will have to close down," explained Yasser Mahmoud, director of a kidney dialysis centre in Port Sudan.
More than 80 percent of Sudan's hospitals are going out of service due to ongoing fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the World Health Organization. "The trauma hospital is currently out of service and the children's hospital is operating at 50 percent. Its administration had to let go some of its medical staff. The hospital is only accepting critical cases while the trauma hospital is fully closed, " said Ibrahim Malak al-Nasser, official in the Ministry of Health in the Red Sea state. The United Nations issued a warning on Tuesday that after four months of conflict, more than 1 million people have fled Sudan to nearby nations and that those still living there are running out of food and dying from a lack of healthcare.