Sudan’s Khartoum start reopening health services
More patients are arriving at Bashair Hospital as it is the only accessible hospital in southern Khartoum. With the presence of MSF team, Bashair can support most of the critical cases and other departments at the hospital have started to operate as well.
In Khartoum, the reopening of one of their hospitals has the staff and patients celebrating the new facilities, according to Arab World via AFP on January 23rd.
Until 2025, when Bahri was reclaimed by the counteroffensive, there was relentless conflict in Khartoum. The Bahri Teaching hospital was one of the first buildings attacked by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in 2023. Following the persistent fighting, the admittance of the hospital’s first patients in three years has brought a shared happiness among the community.
Dr Ali Mohamed Ali, reports AFP, described his happiness in returning to his job, reflecting on how hopeless the return of the building seemed and how they had to rebuild the structural elements. He had faced the RSF in the initial attack and been held in a detention centre for two weeks in Soba. When released, he left Khartoum and resumed his practice from a medical camp, unable to source proper equipment for his procedures.
The World Health Organisation reported that the healthcare system in Sudan has faced severe blows to its facilities, with mass shutdowns of hospitals and other practices and damages to the structural integrity of many buildings.
Since the war started, the number of deaths over Sudan have been increasingly high, with many residing there facing extreme hunger and displacement. But, with approximately one third of Khartoum’s hospitals reopening, reports Sudan’s Doctors’ Network, the city of Khartoum now looks to restore its former infrastructure to serve those in need.
The Bahri Teaching Hospital was raided and attacked repeatedly. Galal Mostafa, the director, described how large amounts of equipment and power sources in the hospital were damaged or taken, leaving little for the once well-used building.
The chief executive of the hospital, Salah al-Haj remarked his gratefulness for a suppliance of transformers. In a report by AFP, he described his experiences of the conflict in its initial stages, stating his being trapped on one side of the hospital, unable to leave with the RSF on the other side. He continued, stating that patients had been taken through difficult roads to other parts of the country in order to help them to the best care possible.
Now, the hospital faces new reconstruction and renovations. The Sudanese American Physicians Association and Islamic Relief USA have funded these, with millions of dollars providing new rooms and equipment.
Hassan Alsahir, an intern at the hospital, said the cleanliness had improved and the overall state of the hospital was better.
Arab World via AFP/ Maghrebi.org
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