Thanks to funding from King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), International Medical Corps has addressed a critical healthcare gap for at-risk populations in Somalia by establishing accessible, high-quality dialysis services at Garowe General Hospital in Puntland state. The project began in January 2025, and the new dialysis unit was launched in August in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Somalia. The project was completed in December 2025, and the MoH now runs the unit.
The dialysis unit provides critical services that were previously unavailable to patients living in Puntland. To prepare the dialysis unit for operation, International Medical Corps constructed and rehabilitated the facility where the unit is housed; procured medical equipment, accessories and medical supplies; recruited and trained facility staff members; and installed dialysis machines and reverse-osmosis systems.
Since the project began, 30 staff members have been hired for the dialysis unit, seven training sessions for staff have been held to ensure patients receive optimal care and hospital staff have conducted nearly 333 dialysis sessions. Community health workers have conducted awareness sessions that reached more than 5,000 people and provided more than 5,000 counseling sessions, offering mental health, nutrition and medical support to patients as part of their care.
In Somalia, 6.9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and access to basic healthcare remains a significant challenge. The country also faces a significant shortage of dialysis facilities, with most located in major cities. Rural communities are particularly affected due to limited diagnostic capacity and a lack of trained specialists.
“This project has addressed the high prevalence of chronic disease in the region,” said Njoroge Kamau, International Medical Corps’ Country Director in Somalia. “Previously, people in Garowe had to travel 450 kilometers to Bosaso, 900 kilometers to Mogadishu or even to neighboring countries for this vital service.”
KSrelief’s humanitarian commitment and International Medical Corps’ deep operational presence and reputation as a trusted community partner in Somalia positioned this vital project to deliver measurable, lifesaving healthcare to the country’s most vulnerable people.