Helping to keep a broken hospital running

Sudan | 2024 | CERF

Sudan, El Fasher. On 13 October 2024, Dr.Suhiba was performing an operation. “A mortar hit the hospital. I was so worried because the patient’s wounds were open, and everyone was running around me,” she remembers.

A barrage of five artillery shells struck Al-Saudi Maternity Hospital that day – the last hospital open in El Fasher. Destroying the pharmacy and the emergency department, and damaging other parts of the hospital, the blasts injured ten people.

Asma was getting a pre-natal check at the time. “I was so scared. The glass from the windows shattered, and I was injured. But I was more scared for my baby,” she said. “The medical team took care of us.”

El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, has been under siege for months – due to the roiling conflict that erupted in April 2023. Nationwide, the violence has displaced more than ten million people. The country faces one of the world’s most severe nutrition crises, and sexual and reproductive health services have been seriously disrupted. All factors which place pregnant women across the country at risk. 

By the end of October, Al-Saudi Maternity Hospital was the last hospital in the city, and is now only partially functional.

“Four of my team were injured in the latest shelling,” said Dr. Ahlam Ibrahim, head of the hospital’s mental health department. The department supports mothers-to-be as well as survivors of gender-based violence, rates of which have skyrocketed amid the conflict.

“We are here to support people psychologically, but we are tired,” Dr. Ibrahim said. “But we can’t stop. We are the only ones left to support the women and girls in El Fasher. We need help now.”

With funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund, the UNFPA Emergency Fund and other donors, UNFPA provided the hospital with three months of fuel and solar panels – temporary help that will keep the doors open at least. UNFPA is also helping to pay maternity ward staff until the end of the year.

CERF funding has helped Sudanese people inside and outside the country as they face displacement and fear. In Libya, CERF funding has helped provide refugees with cash assistance, and in Ethiopia, emergency health and protection.

Meanwhile, in Al-Saudi hospital, the uncertainty and fear continue. “The situation is very difficult. They are shelling us every day,” Dr. Suhiba said. “Every day I think it will be my last. But what can I do? I have to stay and help my people.”

Published November 2024

Based on an original story from UNFPA Sudan

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