UAE completes construction of field hospital near Darfur

DARFUR - The construction of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Field Hospital has been completed near Darfur in Sudan as part of the United Arab Emirates’ ongoing global efforts to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Field Hospital is a 3,800 sq/m field hospital built to help mitigate the impact and contain the spread of COVID-19, in what is one of the worst affected African nations. It has 48 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 160 isolation beds, as well as a host of facilities such as an outpatient clinic, pharmacy, laboratory, and staff accommodation for 70.

The field hospital has a life span of more than 25 years and can be converted to a regular hospital after the pandemic is concluded, allowing it to provide services to nearly 2 million who would regularly come to Darfur for medical needs.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, said that "since the first day of our response to the pandemic, we have worked to ensure that there is enough hospital capacity to care for our people, and ensure the resources they need are available.”

“An increase in hospitalisations has meant we needed additional capacity and we have done just that. With strong support from the UAE and with a local and international team of experts as our partners, we have been able to erect a field hospital in record time, he said.

“The Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Field Hospital will provide the right resources to our medical staff and put us in a much better position to respond to any further spike in numbers,” he added.

Abdulla Al Rashdi, Chief Executive Officer at Tamouh Healthcare, said that the field hospital “will make a significant difference to the local Sudanese community which has been deeply affected and demonstrates how effective partnerships between government and private sector entities can be in implementing a successful humanitarian response to COVID-19 and beyond.”

Hamad Mohamad Al Jenaibi, UAE Ambassador to Sudan, said that “the UAE is proud to offer its support to countries that are affected by COVID-19.

“This will make a significant difference to the local Sudanese community,” he added.

The opening of the field hospital follows the inauguration of a number of COVID-19 field hospitals made possible by UAE’s AID, in the Guinean capital of Conakry in late 2020, in Jordan in January 2021, along with two new field hospitals being constructed in Mauritania and Sierra Leone.