As part of the Turkish mobilization for Somalia, Doctors Worldwide Turkey (DWWT) has launched a multifaceted operation including both short term projects to provide emergency relief assistance and rehabilitation projects to improve medical care. Amongst these projects, the construction of our Shifa Hospital has been the most challenging and we are very proud to be able to open it in due time. To achieve this goal, DWWT has closely collaborated with Medical Park. The opening ceremony of our Shifa hospital was held on March 6th in presence of Bekir Bozdağ, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Kani Torun, Turkish Ambassador for Somalia, Pr.Dr Ihsan Karaman, Board Chairman of DWWT, Yahyahan Güney, Board Member of DWWT, Muharrem Usta, Board Vhairman of Medical Park and Hakan Gencer, General Manager of Medical Park.
Following an exploratory mission we decided to establish our hospital in Hodan district where we have rented a 3-floored building. After 5 months of construction work and of renovation it has been turned into a 4-floored building for a capacity of 1500 m2. It has a 62 beds capacity and should provide health care to 300,000 patients yearly. Hodan has an estimated population of 180,960 inhabitants and as a consequence of the on-going fights in southern regions of Somalia, 50,245 IDPs have settled in this district. Besides, the majority of the population is composed by most vulnerable categories such as women, children and elderlies. Shifa hospital is very close to Rajo and Safenka Petrolka IDP settlements and thanks to our 2 ambulances health care will also be provided to these areas as well. Since November 2011, in collaboration with Somali Young Doctors Association (SOYDA), DWWT has already implemented a nutrition centre in Hodan district. So far, 1121 children have been provided with therapeutic food and 8435 have received basic medical care.
The health situation of this district is particularly worrying with 60,000 cases of cholera reported up to January. Besides cholera, the people are also affected by infectious diseases, respiratory infections, chronic diseases, arterial hypertension, diabetes...Furthermore, 46% of the civilians injured by fire weapons are under 5 years old. These armed children are brought to Hodan hospital which lacks capacity to treat them and 76% of them die. Our new hospital will also deal with these heavily injured cases.
From March 2012, Shifa hospital will provide extensive health care in the following departments:
-
Paediatrics and Neonatology department
-
Gynaecology and Obstetrics department
-
General Surgery department
-
Internal Medicine department
-
Infectious Diseases department
-
Triage Centre and Emergency Room
-
Clinical Pharmacy
-
Malnutrition Treatment Centre
With 2 operating theatres and 3 delivery beds Shifa’s physicians will be able to perform up to 10 operations and 20 birth deliveries daily. A department of radiology and a laboratory have also been established. As part of the on-going implementation of this project, last October, 13 Somali physicians and nurses came to Istanbul to undertake a two-months training in Bezmialem Vakıf University. To run the hospital, a total of 73 staff have been recruited.
Besides the medical services, Shifa hospital also includes social facilities such as a kitchen, a bathroom, a masjid and soon we will dig a well in the garden to provide potable water to the population of the neighbourhood.