Construction of the first clinic with cleft center in Somalia
In cooperation with the DCKH, we have decided to build the first cleft center in Somalia in Garowe. The hospital is to serve as a central contact point for cleft children from the entire Somali-speaking area. Since 2013, our association Somcare has been working on improving health care in Somalia and, in this context, has also organized and carried out treatments for cleft patients. To this end, we have decided to build a clinic on a piece of land donated by the city of Garowe, in which children suffering from clefts will primarily be treated.
After a year of construction, the hospital was officially opened on March 23, 2022. This was followed by the first joint (DCKH and SOMCARE) relief mission in Somalia. This was accompanied by a large international team. The main aim was to inspect the new hospital and put it into operation, as well as to train the Somali surgeons and anesthetists in cleft treatment. Three surgeons ( Dr. Siva Reddy, Dr. Manu Prasad, Dr. Manu Gupta ), two anesthetists ( Dr. Manjunatha, Dr. Vasantha ) and Muyeen Pasha, who organized the administrative work including patient documentation, traveled from India . The Freiburg DCKH team was represented by Philip Hehn . The mission was led by Dr. Ulrike Lamlé . Mohamed Ali, the founder of Somcare, ensured that everything ran smoothly on site .
Cleft ligament patients from near and far awaited our team with great hope. First of all, they all had to be registered and examined. Only those who are really healthy will be included in the operation plan later. For example, we have to send several patients home with a haemoglobin level that is too low. Our teams operated on two operating tables for five days. In the end, 55 operations were carried out.
We would like to thank everyone involved for their efforts. Our thanks also go to Tom and Kris Schneider for their financial support of the hospital construction, the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation for the substantial contribution to the procurement of medical equipment, the RKH Fürst-Stirum-Klinik Bruchsal for the donated medical equipment and the support of Engagement Global for the transport subsidy.
The modern health center with two operating rooms, 40 beds, a laboratory and a pharmacy is now a central contact point for children with clefts from all over Somalia and parts of Ethiopia. The clinic is also the only option for many people in the southern parts of the city of Garowe and surrounding villages to receive medical treatment. The city of Garowe, with its approximately 400,000 inhabitants, is the political and economic capital of the Somali region of Puntland.
