Hospitals in Mogadishu
Somalia is a country that is in a state of continuous warfare. Violence and brutality has plagued the country since the downfall of the central government in 1991. Since then competing factions fight amongst each other for power and control. Shootings and bombings occur on a daily basis in the middle of popular cities. Often, innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire between opposing clans. Many of the injured will flee to hospitals in order to receive medical attention. Despite the chaos in Somalia and the lack of medical care available to Somalians, there are a few functioning hospitals, especially in the countries capital city, Mogadishu. Each hospital that is in operation in Mogadishu faces numerous problems and set backs on a daily basis.
Keysaney Hospital is a hospital that is located in Northern Mogadishu. It has been functioning in order to provide medical assistance to war wounded patients since 1992. The hospital contains 65 hospital beds, and since 1992 it has been responsible for treating over 60,000 people injured by gunshot wounds. Everyday, the hospital treats more then ten people who have been injured by gun shots or by explosives, and at least three more people who have been stabbed. They have been treating many civilians, including women and children who get caught in the cross fire between opposing clans. The hospital is technically very well prepared to treat the wounded patients that come to them for medical assistance. They have all the tools and the medication that they need in order to treat patients. The doctors and nurses at Keysaney Hospital have become used to working in a hospital in which they must treat numerous war wounded patients daily. Medina Hospital is the largest health care facility in Mogadishu. Often these hospitals are faced with the problem of running out of the room that they need in order to accommodate patients. So many people are injured from day to day that hospitals often run out of space to put the wounded. In the past few years there have been numerous occasions in which patients had to be lain in the shade underneath a tree outside because the hospitals were so overcrowded. The continuous state of chaos in Somalia often makes hospitals an unsafe place for doctors and nurses to work. In 2004, Mogadishu’s only free hospital was shutdown while gunmen threatened the staff. Earlier Doctor Bashir Sheikh had been forced to remove a woman’s womb in order to save her life. As a result the family of the woman sent the gunmen to the hospital and demanded 50 camels, which is the compensation that is offered when a woman dies. The family maintained that the woman was as good as dead because she could no longer have children. As a result, many women and children who needed medical attention could not be admitted to the hospital. Hospitals also face the problem of keeping the war wounded safely in the hospital until they are out of danger and ready to be released. It is difficult for hospitals to convince patients to stay because they fear getting arrested. Keysaney Hospital estimates that they released about 500 patients who were not ready to be released because they refused to stay. There is also a lack of specialists in Somalian hospitals, such as orthopedic specialists. Therefore, many individuals are going without the treatment that they need.
