An acute shortage of drugs has hit the Abyei Administrative Area, an official at the area Ministry of Health has disclosed.
Deng Arop, Abyei Area Minister of Health told Radio Tamazuj Saturday that the Abyei area had suffered an acute shortage of drugs coupled with poor hygiene and sanitation.
He said the shortage had been occasioned by the huge influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as a result of the latest spate of conflicts.
Minister Arop said the recent attacks on parts of Abyei by suspected armed youth from neighboring Twic County of Warrap State had seen a surge in the number of displaced persons in local camps.
He added that the compounding scenario had made it hard to supply and distribute essential drugs to both public and UNISFA health facilities in Abyei town.
“We have pressure of no drugs in Abyei health care system, the health service delivery in Abyei is deteriorating, there are no drugs due to influx of refugees and returnees from Sudan,” he said.
“Huge numbers of IDPs from communal conflict between Abyei and Twic borders contribute to the shortage of drugs. There is drugs scarcity and our budget for 2022-2023 elapsed as this is the beginning of new physical year budget,” he added.
Arop said that they are engaging partners to help Abyei out of the shortage.
“We are asking our partners to support us with drugs because the communal fight at Southern Kiir River has overstretched the health services capacity. Some partners promised to help because there is no consignment from national Ministry of Health. Insecurity does not allow Abyei Area administration to collect revenues and purchase her drugs locally,” he further stated.
Minister Arop said that UNISFA camp hosts more than 500 IDPs including those from neighbouring communities and Abyei -Twic communal conflict (IDPs) and returnees from Sudan.
“There a few and poor toilets in the camp and that is scary because it might cause unexpected health situations anytime,” he stated..
Meanwhile Bulis Koch, Abyei Minister of Information confirmed the compounding situation in the Abyei IDP camps.
“The number of returnees that came from Sudan were about 830 and they were integrated into local communities according to government policy. The real issue with has been caused by the IDPS that were displaced from Abithok village, Awuol-nhom, Awal and other villages within Abyei, this led to a the shortage of drugs,” he said.
“So these IDPs that came to Abyei due to recent attacks made the situation so dire. This also that caused an early shortage of drugs,” Koch added.
“This huge number of IDPS caused the drug shortage because Abyei has only two hospitals, the UNISFA Hospital and the Abyei Teaching Hospital and that is why there is pressure in these two health facilities. The good thing was that, yesterday (Friday) the Ministry of Health held a meeting with partners who promised to support Abyei to improve health condition,” he concluded.