282,000 euros ($240,700) by the Hormuud Salaam Foundation, which was founded by Hormuud, the largest telecommunications firm in the nation. It will be set up in the Banadir Maternity and Children Hospital, where the charity also provided funding for the renovation of the COVID-19 ward. Following an attack in July by Islamist al-Shabaab millitants seeking to destabilize the government, the wing and the hospital’s outside wall were largely destroyed.
Professional experts are required to operate and manage medical oxygen production and associated equipment. Additionally, it needs stable energy and water sources, which the majority of Somali public hospitals lack. Other nations, like India, had acute oxygen shortages during the second wave of COVID-19 infection outbreaks, pushing the desperate family members of the patients to pay high cylinder costs.
Abdullahi Nur Osman, CEO of Hormuud’s foundation, spoke about the oxygen cylinder cost and shortage. He said, “One cylinder of oxygen usually costs around $50 in Somalia but can reach up to $400 or $500 (at private hospitals) because of the shortage”. He stated that the oxygen will be provided free of cost to the public hospitals in the capital Mogadishu.
According to the World Health Organization, Somalia had so far recorded almost 20,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,100 fatalities, but those numbers might be far higher owing to insufficient testing and unreported deaths. According to the data, only 1% out of 15 million people in Somalia have been completely vaccinated, highlighting disparities in vaccine distribution. The World Health Organization claims that this may extend the pandemic, which has already taken almost 5 million lives.
