Sudan's Minister of Health says the health situation in IDP camps in Darfur is stable

Just in from Sudan Radio Service:

07 April 2009 - (Khartoum) - The Minister of Health in the Government of National Unity says the health situation in IDP camps in Darfur is stable.

Doctor Tabitha Boutros was speaking at a press conference in Khartoum during World Health day on Sunday.

She said her ministry has "stabilized" the health situation in the IDP camps in Darfur which deteriorated after the expulsion of the international non-governmental organizations last month.

[Tabitha Boutros]: “What happened after the NGOs left was that the Ministries of Health and Humanitarian Affairs made an assessment of the situation in the camps and we found there were gaps of medical drugs but the Ministry of Health and the medical services have closed the gaps and so the situation is good now.”

She added that her ministry plans to upgrade existing hospitals and establish others in different regions in the country to cater for the growing population.

[Tabitha Boutros]: “With all sincerity, in the past, hospitals were built without any objectives, especially the private hospitals. Someone has a house and just converts it into a health center, or someone has a building and makes it into a private hospital. We do not like it this way. We have put in place policies and descriptions of a hospital and other health units according to the population in those specific areas. For example, 50,000 people will be served by a health center with hospital equipment and a laboratory service will be available. And now we are working on the hospitals to see how we can preserve the equipment and their service.”

Dr. Tabitha said the government intends to involve all stakeholders at all levels of government to ensure that the strategic plan to deliver health services to the people succeeds.

Photo: Kalma camp, Darfur, W. Sudan (Voitek Asztabski/AP)