Aamin Ambulance is a free, 24-hour ambulance service in
Mogadishu
Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...
, Somalia.
Background
Aamin Ambulance was co-founded by dentist Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan. Abdulkadir was inspired by Abdul Sattar Edhi, the founder of the Edhi Foundation in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
Organisation and funding
Aamin is a volunteer organization which operates a fleet of 10 ambulances in Mogadishu. The ambulances were brought second-hand from Dubai for around $5,000 each, and the
World Health Organisation
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
donated two vehicles.
Other donations include
walkie-talkies
A walkie-talkie, more formally known as a handheld transceiver (HT), is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, ...
from the
UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
and a first aid course from the
ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signator ...
in 2016, but most of the funding comes from Somali citizens – medical students and local businessmen – to support operations that cost around $12,000 per month in fuel, salaries and supplies.
Aamin respond to calls ranging from minor injuries and illnesses to terrorist attacks. On October 14, 2017, a
truck bomb killed over 300 people in the Hodan district of Mogadishu. Aamin ambulances brought more than 250 injured to hospitals for treatment.
Response to any call is made more difficult by the large numbers of road blocks in the city, and by soldiers who block their access
and sometimes fire at them. In 2008, an ambulance was destroyed, and the driver and patient killed, by an Ethiopian tank shell.
The organisation is nonetheless well regarded by the Federal Government; HA Hawa Mohamed Hassan of
Somalia’s Health Ministry has given Aamin an honorary certificate. The government does not fund them, but supports them and encourages other aid agencies to do so as well.
References
Mogadishu
Emergency services in Africa
External links
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* {{Citation , title=UN and Africa: Somalia’s life-saving volunteer ambulance service , url=https://soundcloud.com/unradio/un-and-africa-somalias-life-saving-volunteer-ambulance-service , access-date=2024-01-02 , language=en
Non-governmental organizations