Khartoum hospitals shut due to ongoing fighting

Khartoum’s hospitals have been thrown into chaos by the explosion of violence between Sudan’s two top generals.

People have been unable to leave their homes since Saturday as the two sides engaged in gun battles and bombarded each other with artillery and airstrikes.

More than 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted, according to United Nations figures.

At the Ahmed Qassem children hospital, medical staff had to evacuate all cases except the ones in the intensive care unit.

Supplies were running low, with doctors, nurses, patients and their relatives trapped inside for days as the Sudanese capital turned into a war zone.

"There is a shortage in staff, medicine and oxygen. The hospital is witnessing a shortage in many things and even the doctors have left," said Dr. Mohamed al-Mostafa.

There are some 20 hospitals in the capital and the neighboring city of Omdurman. Those that still managed to operate were understaffed and overwhelmed, running low on supplies and struggling with power or water cuts, doctors said.

The sudden outbreak of fighting caught everyone off guard, trapping doctors and nurses inside hospitals, and preventing other staff from reaching the facilities.

The World Health Organization said many hospitals in Khartoum reported shortages of “blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids, medical supplies and other life-saving commodities.”

Along with Ahmed Qassem children's hospital, the Al-Shaab Teaching Hospital shut down Monday after a ward was struck in fighting, said the general manager, Al Nameir Gibril Ibrahim.