Medical workers halt work in Mogadishu

Hundreds of medical workers in the capital, Mogadishu, held a one-day work stoppage on Sunday to protest against the killing of a prominent doctor in the city last week, one of the organizers told IRIN on Monday. Dr Husayn Muhammad Nur, one of the best eye specialists in Mogadishu, and younger brother of faction leader Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, was gunned down in front of his clinic by unidentified gunmen on 3 July. The work stoppage was called by the Somali Medical Association (SMA) and supported by all civil society organisations, including groups from the education sector, religious organisations and the business community, association member Dr Abdullahi Farah Aseyr said. According to Aseyr, "all hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities" in the capital were closed for the day. He said the stoppage affected "all routine work" and that only emergency cases were being treated. Aseyr stressed that insecurity in the city, in particular the targeting of medical staff, was undermining their work. "We have had medical staff abducted and some maimed or killed," he said. The aim of the strike was to encourage the residents of Mogadishu to take a stand against lawlessness and rampant crime, and to "make them understand that doctors and other professionals are resources Somalia can ill afford to lose". It was also intended to put pressure on the various factions to take responsibility for what happens in areas under their control. "We want them to understand that this lawlessness cannot go on, and they must find a way to set up an all-inclusive administration capable of halting the current crime wave," he said. Since the beginning of the civil war in 1990, over 27 doctors and some 50 other health professionals have been killed, while many more have left the country.