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SOMALIA / FREE AMBULANCE SERVICE
STORY: SOMALIA / FREE AMBULANCE SERVICE
TRT: 01:59
SOURCE: UNSOM
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNSOM
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 05 FEBRUARY 2018, MOGADISHU SOMALIA
1. Med shot, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Michael Keating inspecting an ambulance from the Aamin Free Ambulance Service
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Michael Keating, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia
“It’s the only free ambulance service in the country, and colleagues from Aamin have been explaining that even though most of their work is not related to violence, they play an important role both in providing the population a degree of comfort that when something very bad goes wrong, there is someone they can turn to. But obviously they play an important social role as well, bringing people to hospitals and providing pre-hospital emergency treatment.”
3. Wide shot, SRSG Keating visiting the Aamin Ambulance offices
4. Close up, radio communication equipment used by Aamin Free Ambulance service
5. Med shot, Dr. Abdikadir Aden showing the SRSG Keating the radio equipment
6. Close up, communication gadgets
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Michael Keating, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia
“The fact that it’s supported by volunteers is very important. The fact that colleagues, have set it up and it’s been going for 12 years, and it has got a very strong vision and mission and wants to expand, is very impressive. And it’s great that a Somali organisation is taking on this responsibility and building the partnerships that enable it to deliver, and from which it can try and strengthen national capacities and municipal capacities to respond to disasters and emergencies.”
8. Med shot, 999 Aamin reflector jackets
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Abdikadir Abdirahman Aden, Founder of Aamin Free Ambulance Service
“We shared with him how we do and what we do and how we are first responders in every explosion or any other kind of disease because we respond to everything, anyone who is in need of emergency 24/7, and no off days whole year. So, we shared with him the challenges and we share with him the achievements, and he really appreciated it.”
10. Med shot, SRSG Keating and Dr. Abdikadir Aden shaking hands
The top United Nations envoy in Somalia today (5 Feb) praised the work of the Aamin Free Ambulance Service in responding to the urgent medical needs of Mogadishu’s residents, and called for more support for the 24/7 volunteer-run service.
During a visit to Aamin's offices in the Somali capital, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Michael Keating, said that “even though most of their work is not related to violence, they play an important role in providing the population a degree of comfort that when something very bad goes wrong, there is someone they can turn to.”
He added that “obviously, they play an important social role as well, bringing people to hospitals and providing pre-hospital emergency treatment.”
The Aamin organization started the ambulance service, and other social welfare activities, in 2006 because of a breakdown in services – such as those dealing with emergency responses – provided by local authorities amidst the violence which ravaged the country in the previous decade.
The service maintains a fleet of ten ambulances, field mobile units and rescue units in a state of readiness to meet any emergency in the shortest possible time anywhere in the capital.
Its services are provided by volunteers and garnered global attention in the immediate aftermath of the devastating car bomb explosion, which killed at least 512 people and wounded over 300 in Mogadishu on 14 October last year – its staff were among the first responders at the scene of the attack.
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