August 4, 2012 (BENTIU) – Cases of malaria are increasing daily in Benitu hospital. In July 1,216 patients were diagnosed with malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia of which four adults and five children died of diarrhoea and malaria.

Director for administration in Bentiu hospital, Giel Thuok Yoach, told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that malaria had become the second most common form of illness in the hospital, after diarrhoea.

Yoach added that in a day they receive 30-40 malaria cases and that in June there were 1,000 cases of diarrhoea in children.

He said that the hospital has insufficient medication to treat the patients as they come from throughout the state seeking treatment.

The hospital administration expressed their gratitude to the role played by in offering the hospital support by offering medical supplies and equipment.

Susana Nyagai Nyaka, whose daughter was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for malaria, explained how her two-year-old daughter’s condition after she received medication in the hospital.

The hospital officials urged parents to be extra vigilant during the rainy season, when waterborne disease is more prevalent.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees two children die everyday due to diarrhoea in the congested Yida refugee camplast month.

Unfortunately, not all of Unity state’s citizens have access to hospitals like Bentiu. Many rural areas have poor roads or no transportation, making it almost impossible to reach a hospital.

(ST)