Sudanese cervical cancer patient, Nayla Hamad, said she used to receive her medication to supplement her chemotherapy free-of-charge but is now unable to afford it after supplies were cut due to the war raging in the country since 2023.
She is one of thousands who are struggling with skyrocketing prices for medication to supplement chemotherapy, which leads to delayed chemotherapy doses and impacts the effectiveness of the treatment, according to doctors.
Ethar al-Ser, Hamad’s daughter, said the family cannot afford paying 180 000 Sudanese pounds ($45) for her mother’s much-needed medication every 21 days, as Hamad lay on a rusty metal bench at the Khartoum Oncology Hospital, waiting for her son to buy her medication.
Al-Ser is unemployed, and her brothers – who work as daily wage labourers – struggle to afford their mother’s expensive treatment in addition to the hospital and doctors’ fees, the daughter explained.
“How can I afford all of this? Where is the work and where is the income, I need to afford all of this?” al-Ser said.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 after the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fell out over plans to integrate their troops and a transition to civilian-led democracy.
Sudan’s civil war is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and spread famine and disease since the RSF and the army began fighting.
Another major challenge that cancer patients face is the power cuts, said Ahmed Omar Abdullah, director general of Khartoum Oncology Hospital, adding that patients need electricity to receive their treatment.
He was speaking in a dark hospital room, after inspecting a radiotherapy machine that used to serve cancer patients across Sudan but is currently not functioning after being damaged during the fighting in the capital.
Citizens say power is still mostly out, buildings remain damaged and workers are going unpaid. Hospitals, among them Khartoum Oncology Hospital where Hamad was receiving treatment, also lack necessary medical supplies and equipment, staff said.
A pharmacist at the hospital said the problem persists and many patients have stopped or delayed their chemotherapy sessions because supplementary medicine is unavailable at the hospital and they can’t afford to buy it themselves.
Ahmed al-Sheikh, head of the curative medicine directorate at the state’s health ministry, said efforts were underway to guarantee a stable power supply to the hospital and fix damaged devices.
He added that while chemotherapy doses are provided to patients for free at hospitals, doctors sometimes prescribe other supportive medications that are not subsidised by the health ministry, forcing patients to look for them on the private market.
As of 2024, Sudan recorded more than 41 000 new cancer cases, out of more than 73 000 prevalent cases in the country, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Cancer Observatory.
About the Author
