Sudan dialysis deaths hit 50% in first year of war, hospital chief says

November 30, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Almost half of Sudan’s 8,000 pre-war dialysis patients died in the first 12 months of the conflict because life-saving sessions and drugs became unavailable, the head of the state kidney institute said on Sunday.

“3,800 dialysis patients – 50% – died between April 2023 and April 2024,” Nizar Zulfu, director of the National Centre for Kidney Diseases and Surgery, told Sudan Tribune, citing medicine shortages, clinic closures and mass displacement.

Only 5,720 dialysis patients remain inside the country; a further 280 have been able to travel abroad for treatment, he added. Mortality among kidney-transplant recipients reached 13%.

Zulfu said Khartoum and Red Sea states face acute shortages of anti-rejection drugs because supplies are leaking onto the black market. A new centralised online registry, designed to stop patients collecting the same prescription twice, has now been activated.

He urged the government to ring-fence the kidney-drug budget, arguing that procurement delays stem from the Medical Supplies Authority juggling multiple programmes.

The National Fund for Medical Supplies, which distributes transplant medicines to ten states, said stocks of most drugs had stabilised during 2024-25, although two products were delayed last month. A fresh shipment has arrived and will be sent out immediately, it added.

The Centre will launch a national patient-registration drive this week, starting in Kassala, Gedaref and Sinnar, and will open a new pharmacy at Kaffouri in January, offering free blood-level testing for transplant recipients.