The violent struggle for power between the two army chiefs and a large paramilitary force, after they were ruling the country together, claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians and caused a humanitarian crisis in Sudan and brought the war to the capital, Khartoum, which was not used to such violence..
Community solidarity
- One of these groups, a protest committee that organized demonstrations against the SCAF, has turned to providing a kind of grassroots health service.
- Elsewhere, people have used the technology to provide local stocks of food, fresh water, and medicine to neighborhoods in need.
- “Once the war started, that same evening we gathered to start looking at how to volunteer,” said Azza Surkati, a member of the Mamoura Resistance Committees, which was formed during a mass uprising in 2019 and helped organize relief in the capital’s Mamoura neighborhood during the Covid-19 pandemic and floods.“.
- The Mamoura Resistance Committees mobilized a team of surgeons and other paramedics, reopened a local emergency health center and set up a hotline for less urgent cases. Azza said the center has treated at least 25 cases since the fighting began.
- “Doctors help us treat many cases, including those with gunshot wounds. But it becomes difficult when a patient suffers from severe bleeding, which requires a hospital,” she added, explaining that two patients died due to a lack of adequate supplies..
- From his home in central Saudi Arabia, website developer Fareed Adel, 30, has turned his personal website into a platform where people can either ask for help or offer it based on their location..
- Adel said, “There were a number of needs (needs) that were shared on social media, and there were other people who had needs that were also available, and they announced them, saying they have such and such, water (water), electricity, and so on. I had an idea that all these cases could gather.” in one place“.
- His location mostly helped people in Khartoum, where many of the fiercest fighting took place.
- Adel said, “Most of the needs are either medical, because there is a shortage in hospitals, in the medical staff. People are unable to move to hospitals.”“.
Harnessing technology in community service
- Elsewhere in Khartoum, doctor Makram Waleed, 25, created a WhatsApp community of 1,200 people from different parts of Khartoum to share information about the availability of essential items..
- Walid said, “Whenever my eyes fall on a specific area, I find people are already communicating, and we were able to provide medicine and food for some.”“.
- He added that the basic requirement for most individuals is the provision of drinking water, pointing out that there are other requests related to the provision of medicines, especially for patients with diabetes and blood pressure.
- “We don’t have money or financial aid. We are just trying to facilitate communication between people,” he said“.
- The demand for medical services has increased with the closure of most of Khartoum’s hospitals, a few of which are still open but provide only limited services.
- Doctor Biz, a health app run by Ahmed Mujtaba that once included 30 doctors, has shifted from helping Sudanese deal with existing problems of poverty to helping those affected by violence..
Mujtaba, who lives in Canada, said that since the fighting broke out on April 15, dozens of doctors from different parts of the world have registered as volunteers to advise Sudanese in urgent need of medical assistance using the app..
“Unfortunately, in the past two days, we have spotted a few urgent cases. It was not possible to treat them through telehealth, but they actually needed to go to the hospital,” Mojtaba said.“.
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