‘Oxygen is running out’: Doctors call on UK to get aid into Sudan saying medics are losing hope

People gather to get water using a generator due to a power cut as clashes between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army continue, in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 12, 2023. Reuters/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Report from i news

By Sally Guyoncourt

Dated Wednesday 17 May 2023 11:31 am; Updated 3:01 pm

‘Oxygen is running out’: Doctors call on UK to get aid into Sudan saying medics are losing hope

Medics have called on the UK for more help with supplies in Sudan, saying oxygen and blood are running out

Sudan’s doctors have called on the UK to send urgent medical aid to their country, saying oxygen and blood are running out, medics are “exhausted and depressed” and decomposing bodies are piling up on the streets of Khartoum.

They say that a shortage of medical supplies and equipment is putting thousands of lives at risk, and that it needs to go “the last mile” to reach those who need it most.

Dr Ahmed Elleithi, president of the Sudan Doctors’ Union in the UK (SDU-UK), told i: “For every person killed by a bullet there are 100 people killed from chronic and acute disease.

“We have to keep our people alive, we need medical equipment, food, basic medical supplies.

“We need UK government aid to reach the people who need it most. It’s no good leaving it at the port – it must reach the last mile. We need a safe corridor to reach people.”

For patients with long-term healthcare issues such as cancer and kidney problems, receiving essential treatment has become increasingly difficult.

Dr Elleithi said: “All of this has come to a standstill, more than 5,000 people don’t have access to cancer treatment.”

Those needing regular kidney dialysis or awaiting a kidney transplant are missing out on regular treatment. “All of these people are in risk of death,” he said.

The plea comes as fighting intensifies in Sudan and the healthcare situation on the ground deteriorates rapidly.

An abandoned hospital in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, as fighting continues in Sudan (Photo:AFP/Getty)

Khartoum has been pummelled by airstrikes and artillery fire, according to witnesses, and there has been shelling in neighbouring cities of Bahri and Omdurman.

The conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered unrest elsewhere in Sudan, especially in the western region of Darfur, but remains concentrated in the capital Khartoum.

Speaking at a SDU-UK press conference on Tuesday evening, Dr Ahmed Abbas said “street fighting is taking place on most of the streets in Khartoum”.

The spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors’ Union, who recently returned to the UK after working in Sudan, said around 60 out of the 86 hospitals in Khartoum and the surrounding area were no longer functioning and those remaining were only taking emergency cases.

They were, he said, struggling to maintain any kind of service with both electricity and water supplies regularly cut off.

He told how one emergency operation had to be conducted using only the light from mobile phones. 

“Oxygen, blood, IV supplies are in short supply and running out,” he said. “Doctors are working round the clock.

“They are exhausted, drained, fatigued and depressed and unfortunately they cannot be replaced.”

And they are risking their lives each time they go to work on “roads which are hazardous and dangerous”, he added.

He said the latest death toll was 822 with another 6,000 severely injured since the conflict began last month.

He said there was also a public health risk from the fact that “more dead bodies are piling up on the streets of Khartoum, some corpses are decomposing… attracting numbers of animals and insects, which is a major problem”.

A raid on the National Public Health Laboratory in Khartoum by fighters, which is now occupied by armed forces, also poses a health risk to residents.

“There are some very rare specimens, some vaccines and some viruses which are used for teaching and research [in there],” said Dr Abbas, “if these are not kept safe there is a risk to the area of Khartoum.”

While healthcare services are severely disrupted by the conflict, Dr Abbas said there had also been verbal threats from a senior doctor in the Sudanese military to doctors who are treating those on both sides of the conflict.

“The threats against the doctors has to be condemned,” he said.

Concerns were also raised by the union about the working relationship between doctors on the ground in Sudan and the nation’s ministry of health, particularly around safe passage of healthcare staff and patients for treatment.

Dr Abbas said: “Sadly, there is no collaboration or co-operation with the ministry of health.”

But Sudan’s acting minister of health, Dr Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, said he “acknowledged the reality” for healthcare workers in Sudan adding that “we would like to work together”.

A doctor points at the damage outside the East Nile Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan (Photo: RSF/Reuters)

The United Nations humanitarian response plan has called for $2.56bn to help people affected by the crisis in Sudan while the UN refugee agency is seeking more $472m to assist more than one million people over the next six months.

Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva and director of the co-ordination division, said: “Today, 25 million people, more than half the population of Sudan, need humanitarian aid and protection.

“This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country.

“The funding requirements of nearly $2.6bn is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan.”

The UK Government announced at the start of May an initial £5m of aid to Sudan offering items such as food, shelter, medical care and clean water.

But Andrew Mitchell, international development minister, acknowledged at the time “while this aid will help alleviate some of the immediate suffering in the region, the ongoing violence is creating huge additional needs”.

He said the UK was continuing “to pursue all diplomatic avenues to end the violence, de-escalate tensions and secure safe humanitarian access” adding “there can be no aid without safe access and a ceasefire which is permanent.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached by i regarding new UK aid commitments to Sudan.

View original: https://inews.co.uk/news/world/oxygen-doctors-uk-aid-sudan-medics-losing-hope-2345974?ico=related_stories

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