On 22nd April 2020, Hart Nationwide supported the movement of a  COVID-19 patient from Martino Hospital in Mogadishu city, to the Mogadishu International Airport. The patient, a medical professional working on the frontline of COVID-19 treatment, was a British citizen and was evacuated for further treatment. Time was of the essence.

Pre-move, Hart co-ordinated with AMISOM, NISA (National Intelligence and Security Agency), the police, the hospital, the medical evacuation team, and the airport, as well as planning the gate access and the movement in and out of AAIA into Mogadishu city. As well as typical briefing on threats such as Al-Shabaab, the team was briefed on COVID-19 precautionary measures for the four-vehicle move, including Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and the distances to be kept between all personnel.

On The Move

Security escort teams (SETs) wearing PPE and Ballistic Protection Equipment (BPE) headed into Mogadishu city to collect the patient and escort the ambulance to the runway. Martino Hospital is one of the key testing and treatment centres for COVID-19 in Mogadishu with Somalia being the country with the highest rates of infection in East Africa.

Hart were prepared for the procedure on the airstrip, engaging with the medical crew. The patient was placed into a full adult incubator and elevated onto the plane, to be flown back to the UK.

Country Manager Greg Brownlow  established a communication log with the medical extraction company keeping them fully informed of the medical extraction until the aircraft wheels were up from Somalia. Hart is now on the network of official security providers to this company for different parts of the world.

“The whole task has been seamless we are very impressed with you, and your team.” – Medical Company 

Once the mission was completed, the team headed back to Hart Operations Centre in Chelsea Village and removed all of the PPE which was taken away by MSS (Medical Support Solutions, the on-site medical unit at Chelsea Village) and burnt. The team’s clothes were all washed separately as per WHO guidelines on COVID-19.

“We’ve all been trained by WHO on sanitisation, PPE and the pre-cautionary COVID-19 actions to take. As with other threats, we are prepared and we adapt. And that’s why Hart operates in unstable environments like this: because we are equipped to deal with situations, as they arise.”
– Greg Brownlow, Country Manager, Somalia