Inside the last functioning hospital in Sudan’s Khartoum North

Alsuna Issa, the only remaining hospital in Khartoum North, sits perched on the edge of a small cot next to her young son in a patient room, far from Bahri Hospital’s bustling corridors, which is the only remaining functioning hospital in Sudan.

The young boy, Jaber, dressed in distressed jeans and a Spiderman t-shirt that grazes his enlarged belly, is malnourished.

Patients in similar circumstances wait their turn, hoping to be treated in a nation that has been suffering from more than 18 months of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Khartoum North’s only hospital is still operational.

In one of the three cities that make up Khartoum, Sudan’s national capital region, is located in the northern part of the city, where the Sudanese army recently seized it from RSF control in late September.

It is the only hospital left in the city, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), after more than 100 health facility attacks since April last year due to repeated targeting of healthcare facilities throughout Sudan’s conflict.

After having him for days with fever and diarrhea, issa was unable to locate a hospital that was open to the public near her home.

“He has been vomiting and his stomach is distended. There are no hospitals close to where he is undergoing treatment for malaria and a stomach infection, despite the fact that they tested him. So I brought him here and he was admitted,” the distraught young mother told Al Jazeera.

According to doctors, hundreds of patients visit the city every day, including those who reside in RSF-held neighborhoods, for needs ranging from child nutrition to surgeries.

However, it’s difficult to get to this hospital.

“We live far away, getting back home is difficult. Sometimes there is artillery shelling or fighting, so we have to hide out in the house closest to us.

“Sometimes the hospital is too crowded so we have to come back the next day,” one patient, Iqbal Ali, told Al Jazeera.

Another patient, Karima Ikram Ahmed Adam, said, “When someone falls sick … they come carrying them in a wheelbarrow or on a donkey if possible. ”

The deteriorating security situation has forced more than 11 million people from their homes, according to Sudan’s government.

Health workers have been impacted by this displacement, leading to a shortage of medical staff and causing hospital closures.

‘People are just dying and dying’

The availability of medical resources has been severely limited throughout the war, according to Dr. Hadeel Malik, Bahri Hospital’s emergency medical director.

Since the start of the conflict, supply issues have been a problem. In regions that are under the RSF’s control, this is still the case. Sometimes, medical supplies disappear before reaching our hospitals,” Malik told Al Jazeera.

“We fear for the safety of our workers because the RSF has, in the past, detained health workers,” she added.

The situation is much better now, even if it is still critical, despite the fact that the RSF has controlled the situation there for the past year and a half.

“What we encountered was a lot of devastation, severe destruction and major theft from all the health centres and facilities,” said Malik.

Over the past year, Malik has been a member of the coalition that established more than 23 health facilities in Khartoum North as a response.

For Adam, the patient at the hospital, having community support has been essential to compensate for inadequate healthcare.

“By God, if there is someone in our neighbourhood who is sick, everyone, the people, and the neighbours, come together and support each other,” she said.

Because the situation is crucial, you can’t manage without the entire neighborhood collaborating. ”

Adam urged the international community to send aid amid the country’s dire situation.

“People are just dying and dying, and there has been no aid reaching us until now,” she said.

“So, I’m pleading for aid to reach us, for medicines to reach us, because the number of sick children is overwhelming. ”

Source: Aljazeera