Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health has inaugurated the system support devices for six states, which the UNDP donated with support from the Global Fund.
The Federal Minister of Health, Dr Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, received the support materials, including ventilators, oxygen cylinders, satellite internet communication and video conferencing devices, and laptops, in Port Sudan.
In a statement sent to Radio Tamazuj, Dr Ibrahim said the donation would aid the emergency room operations in six states, including Kassala, Northern State, River Nile, Gedaref, Red Sea, and Karrari locality in Khartoum State.
He appreciated the support, saying the UNDP and the Global Fund’s contribution would strengthen epidemiological and disease surveillance by facilitating early warning alerts and response systems (EWARS) and ensuring real-time disease surveillance systems and emergency response.
The UNDP Resident Representative, Dr Luca Renda, gave the breakdown of the donation as including six video conferencing devices, smart screens, 31 laptops, 92 laptops, six computer printers, 1210 mobile phones and communication devices connected to the wireless Internet, and 4480 oxygen cylinders arrived today, in addition to 70 ventilators for intensive care rooms.
In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Sudan’s health system was collapsing, with only 20-30% of facilities functioning at “minimal levels.”
The situation is especially dire in the hard-to-reach areas with health facilities destroyed, looted, or struggling with acute shortages of staff, medicines, vaccines, equipment, and supplies, spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a UN press briefing in Geneva.
Since mid-April last year, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been waging a war that has killed nearly 16,000 people, displaced millions and caused a devastating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, according to UN figures.