Patients and their family members at the main hospital in Damazin, capital of the Blue Nile, complained of a severe shortage of beds, with up to three patients in a bed.

Multiple sources told Radio Tamazuj from the hospital in Damazin that health conditions in the rainy season are terrible because of the increasing number of patients and the lack of beds. They reported that there are high rates of death in the hospital with up to five people dying per day of conditions such as malnutrition, diarrhea and malaria.

The incidence of malaria among children in particular is increasing as ponds and swamps accumulate within the city. Another factor is that Damazin’s population has increased with an influx of refugees from rural areas since the beginning of conflict in the state in September 2011.

One of the sources in an interview aired in part on Radio Tamazuj this morning pointed out that poor families in Damazin face hunger because of inflated prices of basic food commodities. He complained that the authorities are primarily concerned with the war and have left aside any concern for citizens.