Cholera deaths in Sudan’s Red Sea

Three people reportedly died from cholera and dozens of new cases have been hospitalised in Red Sea state on Thursday, medical sources in eastern Sudan reported.

Cases of cholera, designated by the Government of Sudan as acute watery diarrhoea, in the eastern Red Sea state have emerged in the area of Emour in El Ganab locality. "But there is a lack of qualified health facilities and medical staff in El Ganab," journalist Osman Hashim reported to Radio Dabanga.

He said that a company has refused to receive patients to its hospital in Salloum, under the pretext that the contagious disease is not spreading. He explained that the company, named Oriab, has provided an ambulance to transport patients to Port Sudan.

In southern Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea, local authorities quarantined the Um Defso market in the Dar es Salaam neighbourhood on Wednesday, owing to a suspected cholera outbreak. "The number of cases in the isolation centre of Dar es Salaam reached 38 cases on Thursday," Hashim said.

On Wednesday the Minister of Health, Bahar Idris Abu Garda, announced that there have been 501 'watery diarrhoea' cases in Red Sea, including nine deaths. At a press conference Abu Garda announced the results of tests confirming that the high rate of infections is a result of contaminated water.

He said a high-level team would be sent to the area, headed by the under-secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, to assess the health situation.

Chlorination

Disagreements have emerged between the Red Sea state Ministry of Health and the state’s water corporation about the absence of chlorination of drinking water, Osman Hashim reported. The ministry holds the corporation responsible for the pollution in the water.

Regarding the health situation in Khartoum state, Minister Abu Garda told the press that he is 'reassured' that the crisis has been addressed and contained at Ed Babikir area.

According to the Doctors' Executive Committee last week, the results of laboratory tests on acute diarrhoea samples conducted in the Ahmed Gasim Hospital in Khartoum proved cholera. Also an infectious diseases specialist and doctors in Sudan declared that they “are very convinced that it is cholera,” and not, as reported by federal and state governments, an outbreak of watery diarrhoea across the eastern Red Sea and El Gedaref states.