Many People, Few Resources: Doctors and Their Patients

In Darfur, a region of Sudan that is lacking fully developed infrastructure and where medical resources are scarce, hospital personnel must find creative ways to provide even the most basic services.

By Albert González Farran

As in other parts of the world, the doctors and nurses working in Darfur are dedicated not only to saving lives but also to providing a basic level of care that can successfully accommodate patient needs. In Darfur, a region of Sudan that is lacking fully developed infrastructure and where medical resources are scarce, hospital personnel must find creative ways to provide even the most basic services to the people living here.

During the past several years, the hospitals in the largest cities in Darfur have been dealing with an increasing number of patients who have fled conflicts in their home localities or have settled in nearby camps for the internally displaced. To respond to the increased demand for services, hospital administrators actively seek donors and compete for humanitarian projects to supplement their limited budgets. 

“Any help is always welcome,” says Sami Ibrahim, Director of El Fasher Hospital in North Darfur. In the El Fasher Hospital and in other medical centres around Darfur, long queues are commonplace, multiple patients must share the same bed, and the relatives eager to keep watch on their loved ones must spend the night waiting outside the hospital buildings because the waiting areas are overcrowded already.

This photo essay highlights one of the many challenges the people of Darfur regularly face after long years of conflict. It is a tribute to the patients who need care and especially the doctors and nurses attending to them, struggling with limited resources to care for their clients’ medical needs and treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Read the full interview in the March issue of Voices of Darfur. Download the magazine (PDF) here.

A staff member controls access to the Emergency Room at El Fasher Hospital in North Darfur. More than 500 patients come to the hospital each day to see one of the four emergency-room doctors on staff. At night, one doctor is on duty. Photo by Albert González Farran