Sudan: Three or four patients sharing single beds amid ‘systematic destruction’ of healthcare

War-torn Sudan’s healthcare system is approaching breaking point as three or four patients are sharing single beds, Islamic Relief revealed on Thursday. 

Overwhelmed healthcare workers in eastern Sudan described dire conditions, with patients either turned away or dying on the floor, the aid group said. 

The conflict-stricken country has seen countless displaced families seeking care, and the collapsing medical infrastructure has been unable to accommodate demand, with ongoing violence outstripping limited resources and two thirds of all main hospitals out of service. 

Dr Abdalbasit Alameen Mohamed Adallah, director of al-Gedaref Teaching Hospital, told Islamic Relief that the number of displaced people seeking treatment is increasingly at double or triple the rate that the hospital can find new beds.  

He said: “The health situation is very serious. The existing hospitals take all of the burden [from displacement as a result of the conflict]. 

“After recent displacements, the number of patients has increased many times,” he added. “Two or three patients can be treated in one bed, some treated on the couch, and some we just give them the treatment and let them go if they have a place to stay. People are begging for prescriptions.” 

Adallah went on to say there was a severe lack of medication available, including for vital emergency treatments such as infusions and laboratory testing. 

He continued: “There has been a systematic destruction of all health facilities across Sudan. Most of the medical staff have themselves been displaced and many hospitals destroyed completely, resulting in no medical services. 

“In Gedaref we took the biggest burden since the very start of the war from the displacement of Khartoum and Al Jazirah state, where half of the population was displaced to Gedaref including the elders, children, and people with chronic diseases. It's a huge number.”

Many doctors and medical staff have fled the country, after facing violence, attacks, decimated infrastructure and corruption, Islamic Relief said.

Since the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began fighting, there have been 542 attacks on healthcare facilities between April 2023 and December 2024, according to a report by Insecurity Insight. 

During these attacks, 122 health workers have been killed and 90 arrested, with medical facilities including clinics and hospitals damaged 136 times, and taken over 51 occasions for non-medical purposes, the report said.

Insecurity Insight has attributed almost two thirds of these attacks to the RSF. 

Since April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a brutal civil war between the SAF and the RSF militia.

The country has fallen into a humanitarian crisis, with 12.5 million Sudanese displaced from their homes, according to UNHCR.