Poor health services in West and North Darfur

The people of Kendebe camp for the displaced in Sirba locality, West Darfur, suffer from a severe shortage of health services in the area. The services in El Fasher Teaching Hospital are rapidly deteriorating.

“The 27,000 displaced living in the camp and the population of the seven surrounding villages depend on one health centre in the area of Kendebe,” the spokesman for the Sirba camps told Radio Dabanga on Sunday.

“Since the NGO MedAir left Kendebe two years ago, the centre is run by employees whose qualifications are not known. They write prescriptions for medicines without a proper examination of the patient,” he said.

The spokesman holds West Darfur state government and the Sudanese Ministry of Health accountable for “disasters that may arise from misdiagnosis and incorrect prescriptions”.

He called on the Sudanese authoritiesto provide qualified doctors, laboratory technicians, and affordable medicines to the health centre.

El Fasher Teaching Hospital

People in North Darfur complain about the deterioration of health services in El Fasher Teaching Hospital.

“Most of the time there are no doctors and nurses available,” a relative of a patient told Radio Dabanga.

“Power outages are the order of the day, and there is also a major shortage of beds,” he said. “Three to four children admitted to the hospital have to share one bed.”

The director general of North Darfur Ministry of Health, Dr Ali Ismail Yahya, acknowledged the “lack of beds in most of the wards and acute shortages of medical cadres and equipment”.

According to Sudanese economist Dr Siddig Ombadda, Khartoum spent more than 60 percent of the annual oil revenues on the army and the security apparatus in the period between 2000 and 2011. The expenses on education and health constituted 4.4 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.