(ERGO) – 250 children from poor and displaced families living with various diseases including diabetes, epilepsy, heart diseases, and infections have had free diagnosis and treatment from doctors from Edna Adan hospital in Hargeisa.
Mohamed Ibrahim Omar’s his seven-year-old daughter, Marwa, was diagnosed with epilepsy after a four year period of uncertainty over her condition. He couldn’t afford medical bills but was happy she received free treatment among others at Qalah school in Qalah IDP camp.
Mohamed is taking his daughter now for weekly check-ups.
“She is much better; we give her medicines now. The services were free; we have not paid any money. They took blood and urine samples for testing and told us if she does not get better with the medicines they will do other checkups and scans,” Mohamed said.
Marwa had spent two years in grade one due to her health and sometimes had seizures in class, affecting her both physically and mentally.
Mohamed is a teacher in the camp earning $45 a month. He had already taken $500 in loans to seek treatment for his daughter.
“I am a temporary teacher, and I don’t get much from the school. I can’t afford to treat my children and that is painful and it has affected me,” he said.
The family were displaced from Gashamo in Ethiopia’s Somali Region towards the end of 2020. He hoped to find better living conditions in Hargeisa although they are still faced with difficulties.
Another student at Qalah school helped in the medical campaign was 15-year-old Mohamed Abdirashid Hassan, who has diabetes.
His mother Ugbad Isse said she was shocked to learn about her son’s condition after tests had been done earlier. She had taken her son to three different health centres that all confirmed diabetes, but she couldn’t afford the treatment.
“Edna Adan hospital has helped us. My son was taken to a hospital where was given injections and I thank God since I am able to monitor his sugar levels and we are grateful that we got free medicine,” she said.
Ugbad said her son had been easily agitated in the past two years and had got into arguments with his teachers that sometimes became physical. His performance at school worsened and this year he was held back to repeat classes before moving to grade seven.
“I was very worried after learning that my son has got this disease, but I’m also hopeful that now he will get the treatment he needs. He was just a normal child and ate whatever we cooked but now I have to be careful with his diet. I also have to protect him from too much play so that his health doesn’t worsen,” she said.
Ugbad lives with her husband and 11 children in Qalah camp, which they joined after being evicted from their former camp in 2020 when the government took over the land. Her husband is a police officer earning $55 a month that they find it hard to live on.
The lead doctor in the medical campaign, Dr Faduma Abdi Abdullahi, said they had visited three schools – Qalah school, Omar Dinar school and Ayah 4 school, targeting a total of 1,000 children. They picked these locations as the residents are mainly poor and vulnerable families without access to health care.
Faduma said some of the children had never received medical care as their parents couldn’t afford to pay the bills.
“We will have meetings with the local governments, the ministry of health, and the ministry of education. We will try to expand this programme so that the children can access health care and we are able to avert some of the diseases.
We would like to have a nurse in every school so that the children can get free health care,” Fadumo told Radio Ergo.
She noted that some of the children were malnourished and mothers suffered from nutrient deficiency during pregnancy.
As part of their efforts in May and June, the doctors also trained teachers at the schools in first aid to deal with emergencies. This programme was started by Edna Adan hospital in 2016.
