Free Ambulances, From a Determined Dentist
Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, the founder of Aamin Ambulance, the only free emergency transport system in Mogadishu, Somalia.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — On the way to and from his dental clinic every day, Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan was appalled by a common sight: injured and dead Somalis being transported in wooden carts.
This was in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in 2006, when government troops, bolstered by Ethiopian forces, were engaged in a brutal war with Islamist fighters that killed thousands of people and mutilated many more.
Dr. Adan, who had just returned from studying abroad, thought he could do something to help the injured get faster treatment and make sure the dead were handled with dignity. He rented a minibus and paid its owners a few dollars a day to carry the injured to safety.
But this could help only a few victims a day, and the violence was intensifying. So Dr. Adan spent his savings, about $2,400, to buy a van, with some additional funding coming from university students who each donated $1 to save a life.
And so began Aamin Ambulance: the only free ambulance service in this city of over three million people. Sixteen years later, it has a fleet of 22 ambulances and a team of 48 drivers, nurses, paramedics, radio operators and security officers. “Anyone who is in need of an ambulance, 24/7, we are here,” Dr. Adan, 48, said.
Since Aamin Ambulance was founded, Mogadishu has experienced few periods of peace, with Al Shabab, the Somali terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, carrying out frequent attacks. Although its deadliest came in 2017 — a double truck bombing that killed 587 people — the group remains a constant threat.
Aamin workers are often the first to arrive at the scene of an attack, often just minutes after a bomb blast. “We almost always reach before the police come,” Dr. Adan said.
This speed puts the team at risk: The Shabab will sometimes detonate a second bomb in the area of an attack, specifically meant to target those arriving to help. Abdulkadir Abdullahi, a nurse with Aamin, has experienced this type of explosion while evacuating casualties, with the windows of the ambulance he was in once shattering as he prepared to leave a scene. “Just when you think it is safe, it turns out that it isn’t,” Mr. Abdullahi said.
Responding to attacks is hardly the service’s only mission. It also transports sick children, mothers in labor, accident victims and anyone else in need of urgent care. The team fields a minimum of three dozen calls a day.
It also engages in public health campaigns, including educating people about Covid-19 and providing first-aid training. Somalia has few public hospitals, and receiving treatment at private facilities is expensive and out of reach for many.
Mogadishu is particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases, as many residents live in cramped settlements with unsanitary conditions. Tens of thousands of displaced people, many of them with unvaccinated and malnourished children, flock to the city.
“This is why the work that Aamin Ambulance does is indispensable,” said Mohamed Adow, the director of health at the Benadir Regional Administration, which oversees Mogadishu.
But Dr. Adan’s work has not brought him the good will of the country’s authorities. Aamin’s workers face harassment and beatings by security forces, who deny them access to pass roadblocks when carrying injured people. Three staff members died as a result of gunshots or accidents.
Dr. Adan’s ambitions are to offer a free hospice and mortuary service in Mogadishu and to expand the ambulance service beyond the capital.
“Somalia and Somalis deserve better,” he said.