An influx of injured Sudanese refugees and returnees has overwhelmed the Ameeth-Bek Referral Hospital in Abyei Administrative Area, with some sharing hospital beds, an official has told Mayardit FM.
Hundreds of the refugees, mostly women and children, have been entering Abyei from Western Kordofan State, according to officials.
Some of them, the minister of Health in Abyei says, arrive in the area when they are in poor health conditions; others need urgent medical attention for gunshot injuries – greatly affecting the health services at the facility.
“The hospital on a daily basis receives more than 400 patients both in and outpatients, who must get treatment,” Deng Arop stated.
As a result, the admission ward, which has a capacity of 400 beds, is now full, with some patients sharing a bed and others sleeping the floor.
The referral hospital is under the Abyei Administrative Area government and supported by the medical charity, Medicine Sans Frontier (MSF).
Arop appealed for emergency support from concerned organizations and UN agencies, saying “donors believe in assessment” – a process which delays intervention.
“Donors believe in assessment. We call upon the donors to come out in a positive way to respond to this overwhelming situation of refugees and returnees running for protection from Sudan,” the minister continued.
He added that the hospital is likely run out of drugs very soon.
With fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its fifth month since April, some 5.3 million people have reportedly fled their homes and sought refuge in Sudan or neighboring countries, including South Sudan.
Reports show that about 500 refugees have entered South Sudan. However, officials in Abyei could not immediately reveal to this publication the number of those who have sought refuge there.