Since more than two weeks, several neighborhoods in Khartoum East are affected by power cuts and water shortages, representing a major challenge for the communities and health facilities that we support: Umdawanban and Alban Jaded hospitals.
The lack of electricity compounded with unreliable fuel supply in the area put the hospitals on the verge of running out of power: hampering the functioning of water pumps and preventing medical teams from using essential medical equipment, such as oxygen concentrators for critical patients care.
Joining the efforts of local communities and volunteers, in the last two weeks, MSF teams have delivered fuel and essential water supplies to support these two hospitals, including water trucking of more than 60 000 liters of water for the pediatrics and maternity wards of Umdawanban hospital as well as several departments including the dialysis center In Alban Jaded facility.
MSF teams have also made available additional oxygen cylinders for Umdawanban hospital and facilitated several transports for their refilling to a city more than 200 KM away.
In 2023, MSF had installed solar panels in Alban Jaded facility to support the Hospital Emergency Room and donated a generator to Umdawanban to support the whole hospital.
Today, while we are temporarily supplying fuel for critical medical services to bridge this power gap, we are also assessing the options to install solar panels for critical departments of Umdawanban hospital such as the maternity and pediatric wards. We will also keep providing sufficient water for the running of MSF supported departments.
If on one side, we are working to ensure that minimum standards are met in the hospitals we support, on the other side, we fear that some in the community in Khartoum East might not getting enough water to meet their daily needs, that according to international standards are between 15 and 20 litres of clean water, per person per day, in emergency conditions.