Dhuhul Medical Foundation

A nongovernmental foundation that is established in order to serve the essential medical and health’s needs of Somali and Yemeni children, women, young and old. This Foundation lays Particular emphasis on the promotion of the medical care, public health, medical services en preventive activities in general but more specifically on the Mental health and medical care such as screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer & psychiatric problems.

The last winter of December 2011 and later on in the summer 2015 & 2016, I have been to Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia. Somalia as we know is one of the poorest countries in our world, is still struggling for democracy and stable political system which is based on corruption and violence.

I have noticed the main obstacles during my visits such as a lack of good organized Infrastructures and a good management particularly for the education system, health’s services, social and cultural development . This of course has its effect on the growing process of the Somali citizens and draw the country to the bottom, stimulating only conflicts within the different groups of the Somalian Society.

My impressions were as the following:

My first impression was that the daily war does not look like the eighties & nineties but the continuation of the unexpected attacks from the radical Islamtics group* Al-Shabaab* on every new or developed places in Somalia, prevents the course of the process of renewing or developing of the country. Besides the absence of a firm Security and the existence of extreme poverty as results of unemployment.

I have seen some therapeutic care locations or centers(CTC) in Mogadishu, one of the places was the Waberi District CTC (SAACID-Somalia).Everyday approximately more than 200 women came with their severe ill children from the age of 6 months till 6 years old to this center seeking for a sake of medical help and advice and were waiting for that the whole day.

At that time I saw the most terrible and painful images I have ever seen in my entire life as a professional doctor. Images of the weak mothers who were standing for a longtime in the que, carrying their weak and sick kids holding them to their chest trying to comfort them, to reduce their pain while they look like a shadows due to fear and malnutrition. It was very painful to see how children gasping till death. The impressions you get when you enter such medical center are:

1. There is no any adequate help available.
2. There is no any good facilities even for the treatment of severe malnutrition problems(There is a lack of medical devices and facilities). The only device I saw,
   was the primitive weight measurement which made of a lap of cloth to measure the weight of a child.
3. There is a serious lack of medicines particularly the prober medicines for some serious infections or diseases, for example malaria ,TBC, parasitic diseases and
   for some specific psychiatric problems.
4. The treatment of psychiatric illness are absolutely not a priority and there is nothing available to prevent such problems.
5. The people who work at the medical center were a bunch of young girls who probably got some courses in nursing but did not have a well professional nursing
   education.
6. There was no any medical doctor or specialist or good coordination of evaluation during the work in that center.

My conclusions at the time was that medical -center is not a place to cure or to get care.

The reality is very hard, this center has really nothing to give or even to stop the re-infection and death of the small kids who continuously facing death and die every day. I can’t blame the workers. I am really proud of them, they can’t do anything except using what they have available.

The pictures you see on the folder, I will never forget them. The small baby who was gasping, due to a meningitis, his picture is still buried deep in my memory. That picture was my drive to do what I could and to make a change.