Four women ‘die from anesthesia’ in obstetrics hospital

Four women are suspected to have died from a corrupted drug used in anesthesia during operations in Wad Madani Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology on Saturday.

A medical source in El Gezira state told Radio Dabanga that in addition, there are seven other critical cases in the intensive care who are believed to suffer from corrupted medicines.

For this reason the hospital was closed for 72 hours. In the meantime all the incoming general and emergency cases have been transferred to the police hospital and the rehabilitation hospital.

The hospital in Wad Madani is one of the places where pregnant women from the area, including Sudan’s eastern El Gedaref state, are transferred to because of a shortage of gynaecologist-obstetricians in their area.

Shortages

Patients in Wad Madani hospitals have renewed complaints about the lack of medicines for mental, neurological, and paralysis diseases. A patient speaking to this station explained that the demand for medicines for diabetes and antibiotics against malaria has risen.

Pharmacy owners in the city confirmed significant increases in the prices of medicines, as well as medicines of pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies, by as much as 30 per cent.

The country’s shortage of foreign currency is impacting on industries and sectors dependent on imports, and the unprecedented deterioration of the Sudanese Pound has been reflected in the prices of medicines.

A number of pharmaceutical companies in Sudan have confirmed the scarcity of several medicinal products in the country. More than 200 types of medicines have become completely unavailable. Pharmaceutical companies are now forced to import medicine first and obtain the currency later, as banks in Sudan refuse to open credit or grant foreign currency. Most foreign and local companies, however, refuse to provide medicines without receiving payment in advance.