EMERGENCY Opens New Paediatric Clinic in Salam Centre in Khartoum

EMERGENCY has opened a new Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in Khartoum, hosted within the same complex as the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery. The Outpatient Clinic will provide free healthcare to mothers and children up to 14 years old.

Since conflict broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) almost a year ago on 15 April 2023, nearly 25 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including about 14 million children. Sudan currently hosts the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the world (OCHA). Altogether, the conflict has created over eight million refugees and IDPs, half of them children.

According to UNICEF, 1.7 million infants are at risk of not receiving life-saving vaccinations, while over three million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition. There are more than 700,000 children with se­­­vere wasting, the most lethal form of undernutrition, whose lives are in danger if they do not receive the necessary medical care.

"The patients we receive mostly suffer from gastroenteritis, malaria and respiratory diseases," comments Manuela Valenti, head of EMERGENCY's Paediatric Division. "They mainly come from the area around the Salam Centre complex, but also from the rest of the city. Moving around is very difficult because of the risk of getting caught in the fighting and because of the high cost of fuel. Also working in the Clinic are Sudanese staff who, until the outbreak of the war, had worked in our Paediatric Centre in the Mayo refugee camp, which we had to close due to the difficult security conditions. Other colleagues were already working at the Salam Centre."

The Outpatient Clinic team consists of a medical officer, an emergency medicine specialist and a paediatrician, all of whom are Sudanese. There are also nurses, both Sudanese and international, and health promoters. The facility consists of a triage area, two clinics, an observation and stabilisation room with four beds, a pharmacy and a laboratory.

EMERGENCY has been active in Sudan since 2003 and remained after the outbreak of the war, continuing activities in the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum and its Paediatric Centres in Port Sudan (Red Sea State) and Nyala (South Darfur). Since the beginning of the conflict, the Paediatric Centre in Mayo has been closed due to complex security conditions.

In October 2023, the RSF looted the Nyala Paediatric Centre and arrested EMERGENCY's staff, who were later released. As a consequence, EMERGENCY temporarily suspended its activities for children at the Centre, continuing only with necessary check-ups of cardiac patients operated on at the Salam Centre.

"Despite major difficulties in carrying out the activities, we continue not to abandon the Sudanese people," Valenti concludes.