The only free hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has closed after medical workers went on strike because of threats from gunmen. Hundreds of women and sick children gathered outside the SOS Hospital, pleading for medical attention. Many were shrieking with pain. The patients inside were evacuated. Several women were sobbing because all the other clinics in Mogadishu are private, and prohibitively expensive for all but the rich.
The gunmen were sent to the hospital three weeks ago by the family of a woman whose womb was removed during a life-saving operation. Some 20 armed men have been patrolling the wards since the end of last month, preventing medical staff from performing operations and tending to the sick. The hospital workers say that they will carry on with their strike until the militiamen are withdrawn from the building. But the woman’s family are insisting that the militiamen will continue to occupy the hospital until they are compensated for the removal of her womb. The family is demanding 50 camels, which is the traditional Somali compensation offered for the death of a woman. The woman’s family say she is as good as dead because she can no longer bear children. However, Bashir Sheikh, the doctor who removed her uterus, says that he had to do so in order to save her life, as she was carrying a dead baby. "I was waiting to be thanked", he said, "but, instead, I am receiving death threats".
Mogadishu’s traditional elders have been trying to mediate between the woman’s family and the hospital, but have made no progress. Religious leaders, women’s organisations and ordinary citizens have also been calling on the family to withdraw their militiamen from the hospital. |