A tragedy in Sudan. Dozens of children die in an orphanage
In the days following the outbreak of conflict between Sudan's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Dr. Abeer Abdallah rushed between rooms in Sudan's largest orphanage trying to care for hundreds of babies and young children after fighting prevented the majority of staff from attending. Abeer recounted how children's screams reverberated around the large orphanage known as the Maygoma Home as heavy fire shook the surroundings.
Death knew its way home. There were babies on the upper floors of the state-run orphanage. The doctor said they were severely malnourished and dehydrated due to the lack of enough staff to care for them. She said her clinic on the ground floor was hosting a number of vulnerable newborns, some of whom died of high fever.
Abeer, who is the medical director of Dar Al-Maygoma, said by phone from her workplace: "They needed to breastfeed him every three hours. McNish is at a limit."
As the screams of the children could be heard in the background, she added: "We tried to make them feeders, but most of the time we couldn't save the children."
The daily death rate has risen to two, three, four and more, Abeer said, adding that at least 50 children, including at least 20 infants, have died in the orphanage in the six weeks since the conflict erupted in mid-April. At least 13 of them died on Friday, May 26, it said.
A senior official at the orphanage confirmed the figures, and a surgeon who volunteered at the orphanage during the war said dozens of orphans had died, both of whom said the deaths were mostly newborns and others under the age of a year. All three cited malnutrition, dehydration and sepsis as leading causes of death.
There have been new deaths in the past two days. Reuters reviewed seven death certificates dated Saturday and Sunday provided by Heba Abdullah, an orphan who later became one of the caregivers at the home, and the death certificates said that they all died as a result of a severe drop in blood circulation, and fever, malnutrition or sepsis contributed to all but one case.
Dr Abeer said the sights of child victims in their beds were "very shocking and painful".
Reuters spoke to eight other people who had visited the orphanage since the conflict began or had been in contact with other visitors. All said the situation had deteriorated significantly and the number of deaths had risen.
Among them was Siddiq al-Farini, director general of the Ministry of Social Development in Khartoum state, which oversees care centres, including budget, employment and supplies. He acknowledged the high number of deaths at Dar al-Maygoma, mainly due to staff shortages and frequent power outages due to the fighting. Without ceiling fans and air conditioners on, rooms are suffocatingly hot in the May heat in Khartoum, and power cuts make it difficult to sanitize equipment.
Al-Farini and Zainab Joudeh, director of Dar Al-Maygoma, referred questions about the total number of deaths to Dr. Abeer. Zainab said she was aware of more than 40 deaths. She told Reuters that the fighting kept caregivers, known as nannies, and other staff away from the home in the early days of the conflict.
She explained that discussions were taking place until Friday, May 26, about the evacuation of orphans from Khartoum.
Mohamed Abdel Rahman, director of emergencies at Sudan's health ministry, said a team was investigating what was happening at Dar al-Maygoma and would release the findings as soon as the investigation was completed.