Khartoum, Sudan – Omar Othman, a gold miner in the northern Sudanese town of Abu Hamad, hoped for a new start to life in the capital – but his hopes were cut short due to illness.
He worked in the gold mines for several months under difficult conditions, which took a toll on his health. At first, the symptoms seemed minor: a cough that lasted for several weeks went unnoticed.
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But after reaching Khartoum, it turned into severe chest pain, forcing him to seek medical attention. He was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, one of several infectious diseases spreading in Sudan, where a three years war The conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the African country’s health system.
At the Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital in Omdurman, Sudan’s second-largest city, west of Khartoum, laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis.
Othman told Al Jazeera that although the results worried him, the counseling sessions and clear explanation of the treatment plan helped reduce his fears and allowed him to come to terms with his situation.
But his treatment was only the beginning, there were still many hurdles to overcome.
supply shortage
During his first visit to the hospital, Othman said he did not face any difficulties. They paid a small fee for the tests and received free treatment.
But on his second visit, the required medicines were not available, forcing him to purchase it privately at a high price.
The Tropical Diseases Teaching Hospital, once a refuge for patients, is now operating with limited capacity amid a widespread decline in health services across the country, as the war reaches its fourth year.
The Sudanese health ministry said this month that 37 percent of its health facilities had been disabled by the war, which began on April 15, 2023, after a power struggle between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.
The SAF currently controls most of eastern and central Sudan, including Khartoum, while the RSF controls the western Darfur region.
The World Health Organization (WHO) verified and documented at least 217 attacks on health infrastructure in Sudan earlier this month, killing 2,052 health workers, while about 40 percent of the country’s 52 million people are in need of urgent medical assistance.
“Given high rates of malnutrition, weak health systems and low vaccination coverage, disease outbreaks will continue to have devastating impacts, particularly for children,” it warned.
The tropical diseases teaching hospital in Omdurman also remained closed for nearly two years due to the war, with hospital director general Abu Bakr Hassan al-Mubarak saying efforts were underway to reopen key departments, including clinics for internal medicine, dermatology, sexually transmitted diseases, as well as psychological counseling and medical testing units.
He said that even though the hospital is partially operational, “major challenges remain, particularly related to funding and the urgent need to repair damaged wards”. Out-patient clinics are being run in the country’s first specialized infectious diseases hospital, where a large number of patients come every day.
The hospital’s media and public relations director, Hasballah Suleiman, says it largely depends on support from health and humanitarian organizations to meet basic needs. The number of patients “puts up.” pressure on already limited equipment, medicines and staff”, adding that the war caused losses to the facility in excess of half a million dollars.
Rimah Fadl al-Mawla, an official at the Psychological Counseling Centre, says staff are under “increasing stress due to the increasing number of patients and limited resources”.
He said conditions were “much better” before the war, but damage to laboratories and counseling centers reduced space and forced them into poorly equipped facilities, affecting the quality of care.
Despite the setbacks, he said efforts are continuing to rebuild and restore the hospital’s role in providing medical and psychological services.
crumbling health system
The crisis at the Tropical Disease Teaching Hospital is evidence of Sudan’s crumbling healthcare system, while also highlighting the resilience of the remaining facilities and staff.
Large parts of Sudan’s medical infrastructure, especially in the worst-hit Darfur and Kordofan regions, have been rendered inoperable due to shelling and lack of supplies.
The spread of deadly diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, measles, rubella and cholera has added further pressure to Sudan’s strained health facilities, raising concerns over their ability to meet rising demand.
Recent attacks, including on hospitals in White Nile and East Darfur states, have killed dozens of civilians and medical workers and reduced access to emergency care.
The situation is worsened by collapsed infrastructure, with up to 40 percent of power generation capacity lost and main water systems destroyed or seized, leaving communities without clean water and sanitation and accelerating the spread of diseases.
