The World Health Organisation (WHO) has condemned the latest attack on a health facility in Somalia’s Somaliland region, where dozens of people, including healthcare workers and patients, were killed and injured.

Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO representative for Somalia, in a statement issued Thursday evening in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, said Tuesday’s fighting in Las Anod also destroyed two ambulances.

“In situations where healthcare systems are already fragile, attacks on health care have devastating consequences going beyond the loss of lives of health workers and the patients they might have saved,’’ Mr Malik said.

According to the WHO, this is the fifth time the facility has been hit since the violence in Las Anod erupted in 2022.

Mr Malik said thousands of people will die yearly, not because they are direct victims but because the healthcare facilities become dysfunctional. The environment becomes too dangerous for effective health care to be delivered.

“I, therefore, appeal to all to protect healthcare facilities and health workers and ensure access to health care for everyone irrespective of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.

The UN health agency extended sincere condolences to the families of those healthcare workers killed and injured in this attack.

Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, urged all parties in conflict to respect the neutrality of health care and the obligations of the health community to the duty of care. 

(Xinhua/NAN)