URGENT S.O.S.: Leprosy patients at Agok Hospital in Western Bahr El-Ghazal, S. Sudan are starving due to lack of food

THIS news report made me cry. Although the report was noted here at Sudan Watch on 03 July 2010, I am publicising it again. Please, no matter where you are in the world, if you are in a position to help these people directly or know someone who might know someone who could help, please relay this news:

Report from SRS - Sudan Radio Service, published 23 June 2010:

Leprosy Patients In WBG Lack Food

23 June 2010 - (Rumbek) – Medical personnel at Agok Hospital in Western Bahr El-Ghazal state say Leprosy patients in the hospital are starving due to lack of food.

Speaking to SRS on Monday in Agok, Ms Ruth Kimani who attends to the patients said that the World Food Program which used to provide food to the hospital has reduced the food ration by half.

[Ruth Kimani] “We are not having enough medicine like to treat general conditions, for leprosy we do have enough but we don’t have enough to treat other diseases. You know even if they are alive they also fall sick to malaria and other diseases and also we need food supply. Because our supply that we usually get from the WFP has been cut into half of what we used to get. The UN says there is a problem we don’t know whether it is a global crises or what but we would really wish the government to do something about that because our patients are suffering”

One of the Leprosy patients at the hospital, Maria Nguec told SRS that they are hungry because they don’t fingers and toes to do any manual work.

[Maria Nguec] “My name is Maria Nguec and I m very hungry my problem is hunger, I don’t have legs and hands. There is no medicine so I can be injected even the food that I can eat is not there. We are 15 but that is not all of us, those without limbs like me are so many in the area, just the houses are less so they brought us here because of water and we are suffering there a lot of hunger in the area.”

Leprosy is a disease caused by bacteria. It mainly causes numbness.

Click here and here to view map showing Western Bahr el Ghazal.