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Somali hospitals overflow with injured

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 24, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia - There are no empty hospital beds in Somalia's bloodstained capital, and barely enough bandages to patch up the wounded. But patients kept pouring in Monday.

"Even the shades of the trees are occupied at this point," said Dahir Dhere, director of Medina Hospital, the largest health facility in Mogadishu. "We are overwhelmed."

Fighting between Islamic insurgents and troops allied to the country's fragile acting government rocked the city for a sixth straight day. Civilians were slaughtered in the cross fire, or fled with little to eat and no shelter.

A local human rights group estimates 1,000 civilians were killed earlier this month in four days of fighting and more than 250 have died in the latest battles. U.N. officials estimate more than 320,000 of the city's 2-million residents have fled since February.

Ahmed Mohamed, 32, was not one of them. Shrapnel from an exploding mortar shell hit him over the weekend, crushing his right leg.

"The doctors told me I would die unless they cut off my leg," Mohamed said, tears streaming down his face at Keysaney Hospital, which is packed beyond capacity with nearly 200 people. "So I have to let them do it."

Mogadishu's other major medical facility, Al-Hayat Hospital, also reported all its beds full.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi insisted Monday that the interim government was winning its war with the insurgents, but he called for greater support from the international community.

"If we do not get international support, the war may spread throughout the region and Africa," Gedi said.

[Last modified April 24, 2007, 01:03:04]