Soaring costs, currency flux worsen med crisis in Sudan’s El Gezira and Sennar

El Gezira and Sennar states in central Sudan are facing worsening medicine shortages and soaring prices as transport difficulties, multiple levies, currency fluctuations, the continuing war, and rising import costs put further pressure on supplies.

Medicine supplier Ibrahim Osman says the two states are experiencing a worsening shortage of medicines and rising prices amid persistent transport problems, multiple levies, exchange-rate fluctuations, and higher import costs.

Osman tells Radio Dabanga that the medicine market has faced these challenges for a prolonged period, resulting in stagnation and sharp price increases. Medicines have become among the most expensive commodities on the market because the sector is particularly vulnerable to overlapping economic and logistical crises.

He says the pharmaceutical sector faces several pressures, including fuel shortages, global conditions, tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, and the war in Sudan. These factors have made importing, transporting, and distributing medicines increasingly difficult.

Osman warns that medicine shortages are particularly dangerous in hot regions, where epidemics and diseases, including dengue fever, malaria, and typhoid, are spreading. These illnesses require substantial quantities of medicines, intravenous fluids, and painkillers, and are recording the highest rates of infection and deaths.

He also points to the weakened role of the National Medical Supplies Fund in providing medicines, citing inadequate government funding as the state budget is directed towards the war. This has undermined the ability of relevant institutions to meet pharmaceutical needs.

Osman says the health insurance system is facing serious problems, while shortages of essential medicines, including insulin, are emerging. Meanwhile, the parallel market is expanding as supplies through official channels decline and prices rise.

The situation is raising concerns about whether patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses and people affected by epidemics, can obtain treatment amid the continuing war, declining purchasing power, and rising medicine costs.