For the entire community, the impact has been devastating. Even psychologically, the toll has been immense.
As a doctor, I have noticed a significant rise in mental health cases. Post-traumatic stress disorder is increasing. Depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders are becoming more common. So many people are suffering from psychological trauma because they have lost their families, their homes—they have lost everything. Many were forced to live in IDP sites with no certainty about their future.
These have been the worst two years of my life. Everyone has lost someone, or at the very least, knows someone who has.
I personally lost dear people. Even my home. A shell hit our house. Thankfully, I didn’t lose any family members, but… it was devastating. Still, I am proud of myself. Because in such a situation, I was here, working and helping people.
I hope the war ends so I can live a normal life again and complete my medical specialization. I was in a residency program as a dermatology resident, but unfortunately, it was halted due to the war.
Most of the resources that were in El-Geneina Teaching Hospital have been looted, and much of it was destroyed. There are other health facilities in West Darfur, but most of them are not functioning as they did before the conflict.
Before the conflict, the hospital was fully operational. But after the fighting began, most departments inside El-Geneina Teaching Hospital stopped functioning, including surgery, adult ER, maternity, neonatology, and paediatrics. Before MSF intervened, the hospital was not functioning at all.
Some services are still missing in El-Geneina Teaching Hospital and remain non-functional, including the adult ER, surgery, ICU, dialysis, and the radiology department. All of these essential services have been lost.
Right now, the situation is extremely difficult. People are suffering immensely. Many have had their properties looted, some have been killed, and countless others have been displaced.
It is challenging for some citizens who need to reach the facility, sometimes due to security issues. During the autumn, when the rain falls and the valleys fill with water, it becomes even more difficult for people outside El-Geneina to access the hospital.
Everything was stolen – there were no beds, beds for the patients were not there, medical devices, chairs, tables… nothing was there. During the war, which has started here in El-Geneina, vaccination completely stopped.
In May 2023, after the conflict broke out, health services in West Darfur were completely paralyzed. Most health facilities were no longer functioning.
At that time, in El-Geneina Teaching Hospital, we lost many patients, particularly those requiring dialysis. Most of the equipment needed to treat them had been looted.
When the fighting broke out in my neighbourhood, I volunteered at a small health center where we provided first aid. We attended to and stabilised injured people—stopping bleeding, dressing wounds—so they could be transferred to a facility where they could receive surgery.
In the inpatient therapeutic feeding centres (ITFC), we see many cases of patient readmissions. When we discharge children after treating their malnutrition, we provide their families with advice on how to feed them properly, including the necessary nutrients they need. However, due to a lack of income, many mothers are simply unable to follow these recommendations and feed their children adequately. As a result, we often see them return to the ITFC. Poverty keeps bringing them back here.
