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“Patient safety begins with qualified professionals, but without independent funding, Somalia’s health regulator cannot fully deliver the protections people deserve.”Dr Mohamed Abdullahi Isse (Gaaladiid)
When a parent takes a sick child to hospital, there is one thing they should never have to worry about: whether the person treating that child is genuinely qualified. Yet providing that assurance takes more than trust. It requires a functioning system for verifying qualifications, licensing professionals and responding when standards are breached.
Somalia has a body established for precisely that purpose: the National Health Professionals Council. What it lacks is a dedicated budget line. This week, Parliament reviewed the Federal Government of Somalia’s closing accounts for 2025 and is now debating the 2027 budget. The 2025 accounts list dozens of agencies and commissions with their own budget lines, yet the council is not among them. With the 2027 budget still before Parliament, this is an omission worth correcting.
The question is not whether healthcare deserves greater attention in general. It is whether an institution entrusted with important legal responsibilities has the resources to fulfil them.
Somalia’s health sector has changed considerably. More hospitals and clinics are operating, and Somali health professionals have trained at institutions both at home and abroad. That growth is welcome, but it also makes independent verification increasingly important. Patients cannot reasonably be expected to determine whether a certificate issued in Mogadishu, Nairobi, Cairo or Istanbul is authentic.
The council is responsible for registering and licensing health professionals, verifying credentials and upholding professional standards. Under its founding law, it also has responsibilities relating to complaints, professional discipline and research ethics. These are not duties that can be carried out effectively with little more than a desk, a stamp and a filing cabinet.
A reliable professional register must be maintained. Qualifications need to be verified with issuing institutions. Complaints must be handled fairly, while professionals need clear standards and opportunities to maintain their competence. The same expectations should apply whether a patient visits a public hospital or a private clinic.
All of this requires qualified personnel, reliable systems and predictable funding. Without these essentials, even a strong legal framework will achieve little.
The Federal Government of Somalia’s 2025 annual accounts provide a useful comparison. The National Communications Authority had a final budget of approximately US$846,000. The Data Protection Authority was allocated nearly US$2 million, the Somali Quality Assurance Agency US$1.46 million, and the Civil Aviation Authority US$9.6 million.
These institutions perform important public functions, and their allocations are visible in the national accounts. Yet the Health Professionals Council, despite its direct connection to patient safety, does not appear with a dedicated budget line.
The Ministry of Health had a government-funded recurrent budget of approximately US$4.48 million in 2025, alongside donor-funded projects. But the council is an independent statutory body. Its ability to regulate impartially requires financial autonomy and a dedicated allocation that it can plan around, subject to parliamentary scrutiny and public accountability.
The council may sometimes need to make difficult regulatory decisions. Its credibility depends not only on the authority granted to it by law, but also on having the institutional resources to exercise that authority independently and consistently.
There is another reason to act now. Somalia joined the East African Community in March 2024. Greater regional integration creates opportunities for Somali health professionals to work across borders, while introducing additional responsibilities for verifying the qualifications of professionals seeking to practise in Somalia.
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Article 11 of the Community’s Common Market Protocol provides for the mutual recognition of academic and professional qualifications. In practice, doctors seeking registration in another member state may be required to provide proof of registration and a certificate of good standing from their home regulator. Kenya’s medical council, for example, requires such documentation from applicants seeking registration.
This means Somalia’s council must be capable of issuing credible documents and responding to verification requests from counterpart regulators. Equally, it needs the capacity to examine the credentials of professionals arriving from other countries.
Regional integration can create important opportunities, but those benefits will be harder to realise if the institutions responsible for professional regulation lack adequate resources.
The solution need not be complicated. The Ministry of Finance and Parliament should establish a distinct budget code and a realistic allocation for the council in the 2027 national budget.
Initial priorities should include staffing, a secure professional register, credential verification, complaints handling and the essential systems needed to fulfil its legal mandate.
Revenue generated through registration and licensing should be managed transparently within the government’s financial system, supported by clear reporting and audit arrangements. Development partners could assist with initial investments in digital systems and training, but the council’s core responsibilities should not depend indefinitely on project funding.
Comparable regulators operate on annual budgets of roughly US$1 million to US$2 million. The council should therefore submit a fully costed work plan, allowing Parliament to assess its requirements, determine an appropriate allocation and establish measurable expectations for performance.
There will always be competing demands on Somalia’s national budget. But the ability to verify who is qualified to treat patients is not a luxury. It is among the basic protections citizens should expect from their government.
As Parliament considers the 2027 budget, Somalia has an opportunity to turn the council’s legal responsibilities into reliable services for patients and health professionals alike.
A dedicated, transparent and accountable budget would be a sensible place to start.
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*Dr Mohamed Abdullahi Isse (Gaaladiid), MBBS, MPH, MHMS, MSc TMI&D, is a physician, public health and health systems specialist. He is a board member of the National Health Professionals Council.
**The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dawan Africa.