Kidney failure on the rise in Sudan amid war, dire conditions

The number of patients suffering from kidney failure in Sudan is sharply increasing, reports state, amid stark warnings that medical care is becoming more inaccessible.

When the war first broke out in April 2023, there were already 13,240 registered people undergoing treatment, according to statistics from the National Centre for Kidney Diseases. Of these, 4,500 had undergone kidney transplants, and 8,740 were receiving dialysis sessions.

Over the last two years, there has been no proper data collected regarding new kidney failure cases. However, a source in the Sudanese Ministry of Health said they estimate that there are around 2,400 new patients, taking the total to almost 16,000.

According to The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a significant number of kidney treatment centres have now closed, and the few remaining ones are operating at low capacity.

Before the war, there were at least 105 kidney treatment centres, but now, hundreds of patients, particularly those in the remote areas of Sudan, struggle to get access to the remaining health centres for urgent medical care.

Hamed Saleh, a civilian from the Kordofan region who was diagnosed with kidney failure in December 2024, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he had to travel over 1,000 kilometres to reach Port Sudan for a dialysis session.

However, as his sessions got delayed due to the influx of patients arriving from different parts of the country, he decided to leave for Egypt through land smuggling, seeking urgent treatment.

"I’m supposed to wait at least a month to be placed on the dialysis list. But even if the sessions are scheduled, no one can guarantee they will take place or continue, given the frequent power outages, fuel scarcity and unstable security situation," he said, adding that many others who were financially and physically able to, left Sudan.

Another patient who asked to remain anonymous said he discovered he had kidney failure in May 2023, and started treatment at the dialysis centre in Wad Madani ,located in the Gezeira state, before the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) invaded the city.

He was later displaced to the city of Gedaref, and then to Kassala, where he continues to receive treatment but lives in dire conditions.

Due to the war, he, like many others, has no source of income, making it hard to flee the country and seek treatment elsewhere.

"Dialysis sessions are interrupted from time to time due to a lack of supplies and medications. The dialysis machines malfunction, and there is a lack of intravenous solutions, and the power cuts out throughout the day. Some patients have died because of this and don’t have essential medicine or can’t complete their treatment," he said.

Over the past two years, hospitals and medical centres have been vandalised and equipment looted, with the capital facing some of the worst damage.

In the first two weeks of the war alone, 36 kidney treatment centres were destroyed, including three kidney transplant centres. An additional 12 centres have also been destroyed in Gezeria State.

Poor accessibility

Accessibility has also been a growing issue due to the damage done to infrastructure.

Last November, Aida Siddiq, a resident of El Obeid in the Kordofan region of Sudan, died from kidney failure after being unable to access life-saving dialysis treatment. The city was under siege by the RSF, and dialysis centres were critically short on medicine and medical staff.

Her brother, Adam Siddiq, spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, recounting the desperate attempt to save her life.

"We tried to transport her to the nearest kidney centre, but the road closures made it difficult to reach there. The centre was located 750 kilometres away in the city of Shendi. In the end we couldn’t make it and she died," he said.

According to Siddiq, Aida is one of dozens of patients who have died under similar circumstances. "Dozens of patients have died because they could not reach treatment centres, which cost money and effort that most patients and their families cannot afford in wartime conditions," he added.

Some patients have been forced to purchase medicine on the black market due to the dire conditions.

A UN official said this week that the risk of genocide in Sudan's devastating civil war remains "very high", amid ongoing ethnically motivated attacks by the paramilitary RSF.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.