Why has Mogadishu become a safe haven for many Sudanese doctors?

“This is a payment of debt. Definitely we are trying our best to show our gratitude and also to stand by our brothers and the nation of Sudan.”

After three decades of civil war in Somalia, the healthcare system in the country was a mess and many people had to travel to neighbouring countries for treatment - if they could afford it.

And so, in 2014, a group of Somali businessmen founded the Somali-Sudanese Hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to respond to the challenge.

It followed years of Somali medical students going to Sudan for training – and the hospital became a place for them to use their expertise on their return.

But then in 2022 war broke out in Sudan – and the hospital became a refuge for Sudanese doctors fleeing the war, thanks to that long-established relationship.

The Sudanese medics are also offering crucial specialist services the hospital could not provide before.

In this episode of Africa Daily, Peter Musembi talks to Prof Helmi Daoud who was the first doctor to flee to Somalia with his whole family three months after the start of the war.

He also hears from Dr Abdilqadir Yusuf, the hospital’s Research and Development manager on how the arrival of the Sudanese doctors has transformed services there.

NOTE: This pod was updated at 0709 GMT on 17/3/25 to correct the year war broke out in Sudan.