Somali Observatory for Humanitarian Affairs The Voice of Reality.. The Eye of Humanitarian Truth in Somalia
Related Articles
MOGADISHU — A large-scale voluntary medical campaign for free specialized surgeries officially launched last Wednesday at the main hall of Hodan Hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, funded by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, targeting hundreds of low-income patients in a qualitative move to boost healthcare services.
The humanitarian campaign, implemented on the ground by experts from the International Association for the Care of War and Disaster Victims, seeks to provide advanced surgical interventions to end the suffering of patients unable to afford specialized treatment costs, while easing the pressure on public medical institutions.
The operational plan of the campaign includes performing approximately 210 delicate surgical operations, distributed among 140 surgeries in ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specializations, 50 procedures in general surgery, alongside 20 specialized surgeries in urology and renal tracts.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, H.E. Dr. Ali Haji Adam, Minister of Health of the Federal Government of Somalia, emphasized the vital importance of such humanitarian campaigns in filling the gaps within the healthcare sector, praising Saudi Arabia’s continuous support to develop the Somali medical ecosystem.
On his part, H.E. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Muwallad, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Somalia, explained that launching this campaign aligns with royal directives to effectively contribute to raising the efficiency of therapeutic services and support the health sector infrastructure in the sisterly Republic of Somalia.
In a related context, Abdullah Al-Saudi, Acting Director of King Salman Relief Center’s office in Mogadishu, noted that this project translates the Kingdom’s leading humanitarian role in voluntary work and its firm commitment to supporting fraternal nations by providing sustainable medical solutions for vulnerable communities.
Furthermore, Dr. Mohamed Issaq Omar, Director-General of Hodan Hospital, welcomed the Saudi medical delegation, calling for expanding the horizons of joint medical cooperation and bilateral partnerships between health institutions in both countries to ensure knowledge transfer and capacity building for local cadres.
The hospital director highlighted a major economic and humanitarian challenge, revealing that over 5,000 Somali citizens travel abroad monthly seeking complex surgeries, stressing that anchoring such specialized campaigns locally drastically reduces the heavy financial burdens borne by low-income families.
The inaugural event featured extensive side discussions between government officials, humanitarian representatives, and medical professionals to review sustainability paths for targeted voluntary projects and secure the steady supply of vital medications and equipment accompanying these delicate procedures to guarantee medical quality.
Participating delegations commended the high level of technical and logistical coordination between the Saudi and Somali teams within Hodan Hospital, paving the way for the success of the scheduled surgical operations and the provision of necessary post-operative care and follow-ups during recovery.
This Saudi medical initiative comes at a time when the healthcare sector in Somalia faces complex structural challenges due to the limitation of free public centers and the dominance of the private sector; making free specialized interventions by the King Salman Center an imperative path to saving lives, curbing therapeutic migration, and establishing a sustainable model of relief cooperation.
