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Brutality’s low threshold The MSF project in Somalia’s Galgaduud region provides life-saving surgery free of charge. It also provides a worrying glimpse into the level of day-to-day violence in Somalia.
Istarlin Hospital is one of very few health facilities that perform quality surgery in Somalia. Patients with gunshot wounds come from both Galgaduud and other regions for surgery. Some travel up to 200 kilometres to get to the hospital. MSF took over responsibility for Istarlin Hospital in the town of Guri El in early 2006. Since then, 21 percent of the admissions to the hospital have been violence-related. Many of its beds are occupied by patients with disturbingly similar stories. Bullet wounds "I have no idea why he shot me,” Abdinaser says. Another young man, Ahmed al Faray, explains that he was travelling on a truck when gunmen stopped the vehicle to rob its passengers. Ahmed was shot in the left arm. He has received surgery, and is recovering in the hospital. Hassan Aden Noor is from the Hiiran region. He has been hospitalised for 20 days. Bandages cover his abdomen. “I was shot in the stomach by robbers,” he tells us. “We hear stories like these very often,” says MSF surgeon Abbas Hassan Warsane. “We are able to treat most of the gunshot victims, but we do not know how many die of their injuries before they get here.” Fatal trap
Together with two friends he had been stealing from a shop. The owner of the shop placed a watch on a piece of cloth. She hid a live grenade under the cloth. “Both of his friends were killed in the blast,” Bianca says. “After two months and three rounds of surgery, we could finally discharge the boy.” Demands attention “Survival instincts have been brought down to a very brutal level after 15 years of lawlessness and civil war,” says MSF Head of Mission David Michalski. “That is the reality people here are forced to live with.” Read other articles on Somalia
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