{"id":14222,"date":"2022-04-28T08:32:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T08:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=14222"},"modified":"2022-04-28T08:32:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T08:32:23","slug":"tigrays-health-system-totally-collapsed-say-health-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=14222","title":{"rendered":"Tigray\u2019s health system \u2018totally collapsed\u2019, say health workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018We are trying to do our best to serve our patients with what we have available, but things are getting worse and worse every day.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: The New Humanitarian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After nearly 18 months of conflict between the federal government and Tigray rebels, the health system of the beleaguered region has \u201ctotally collapsed\u201d, according to health officials and doctors there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health workers in Tigray told The New Humanitarian by phone that shortages are so acute they are using expired drugs to treat chronic conditions, while tens of thousands of patients with diabetes, cancer, and HIV haven\u2019t been treated in months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients are being asked to bring old clothes with them into hospital for surgeons to use as gauze during operations. Test tubes, surgical gloves, and air tubes are all being reused, and there\u2019s not enough detergent to wash soiled hospital bed linen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A doctor at the flagship Ayder hospital, in the capital, Mekelle, likened Tigray\u2019s health system to a \u201cSwiss cheese\u201d with most key components missing \u2013 from medicines to spare parts for vital equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t like the 21st<\/sup> century anymore; it\u2019s more like the 16th<\/sup> or 17th<\/sup>,\u201d said the doctor, who requested anonymity like others The New Humanitarian spoke to. \u201cPatients just die in front of your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health workers are using warm salt water to wash wounds, clinics receive erratic supplies of power, and a lack of fuel is forcing pregnant women to walk \u2013 or be carried on stretchers \u2013 for days to health posts in order to deliver their babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who receive medical attention are the lucky ones: Most new mothers are delivering at home, alone, meaning thousands of women are likely dying from complications, health workers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t like the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century anymore; it\u2019s more like the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0or 17th.<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Ayder hospital sent home 240 patients who were unable to buy their own food. New patients with neither food nor money are no longer being admitted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, doctors haven\u2019t been paid in months and are also struggling to feed themselves. As a result, stories of nurses and surgical residents fainting from hunger during procedures are commonplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than half of Tigray\u2019s doctors aren\u2019t working \u2013 either because they\u2019ve been displaced by fighting or because they\u2019ve left their posts in search of food, said a senior regional health official, who asked not to be named so he could speak freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole system has totally collapsed,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are trying to do our best to serve our patients with what we have available, but things are getting worse and worse every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looting and vandalism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

War erupted in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, the result of long-running tensions between the federal government and the main party in Tigray, the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF). Mekelle was captured in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict has seen the participation of Eritrean troops, who invaded Tigray from the north in support of federal forces. They have been accused of a deliberate campaign of looting and vandalism<\/a> against health infrastructure during the early days of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A survey by the regional health bureau said 90 percent of Tigray\u2019s 40 hospitals and roughly 1,000 smaller clinics were damaged, while medics have described watching Eritrean troops cart away valuable medical equipment using trucks and even helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to Tigray has been restricted since the TPLF recaptured the region in June last year, with all communication links, roads, and banking services cut. This prompted the EU\u2019s top humanitarian, Janez Lenar\u010di\u010d, to accuse Addis Ababa of\u00a0laying \u201csiege\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On 24 March, the government declared a humanitarian ceasefire, raising hopes that aid would start to reach Tigray. Four weeks on, just five convoys of around 150 trucks have entered, despite a UN assessment that at least 100 trucks of food and other emergency supplies are required each day to meet the needs of the region\u2019s six million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has dismissed claims it is restricting aid. It previously accused the TPLF of looting aid trucks and blocking the route used by humanitarian convoys by launching an incursion into the neighbouring Afar region<\/a>. But relief workers question why aid still isn\u2019t flowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A convoy every couple of weeks is not helping anyone,” said one Western aid official, who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardising a working relationship with the government. “They’ve proved it can happen, that they can get the trucks in, but the reality is that the government is using aid as part of the political process.\u201d He added: \u201cThis shouldn’t happen, it is a right under international law.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flights of medical and nutritional supplies into Mekelle by the World Health Organization and the Red Cross have provided some relief. But the airlifted drugs are just four percent of what\u2019s required, and the lack of fuel in Tigray means many of the medicines expire before they can be transported to the health centres that need them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reality is the lucky patients are getting expired drugs,\u201d said the senior official from Tigray\u2019s regional health bureau. \u201cThe others are suffering and dying without any treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying to improvise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have tried to improvise,\u201d said a physician on the maternity ward of Ayder hospital. \u201cWe must tell women to bring their own clothes to the hospital to use them as gauze and packs during surgery and delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients who can afford their own medications come with them. \u201cCold chain and quality metrics have not been followed [for these drugs] but we have no other option,\u201d said the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has seen several pregnant women develop complications after enduring long journeys to the hospital due to the lack of transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One 20-year-old woman lost one of the twins she was carrying and developed a fistula after her neighbours carried her for 18 hours on a wooden stretcher to Ayder. Another woman, aged 31, died because there was no blood to give her for a transfusion after she bled heavily during labour. A third, who was 28, died from an easily treatable infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese cases are the tip of the iceberg,\u201d the physician said. \u201cMost of them are dying at home. This is because of a lack of access and because health facilities aren\u2019t functional. It can be easily prevented, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost to the system<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tens of thousands of patients have been lost to the system. The regional health official noted that 46,000 diabetic patients were receiving treatment across Tigray before the war broke out, but only a small amount of insulin has been received through the Red Cross since June, and no oral antiglycemic drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another 64,000 patients were being treated for diseases related to hypertension during peacetime, while 58,000 people with HIV were also getting regular check-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the communications blackout, we don\u2019t know how many of these patients are still getting follow-ups,\u201d the health official said. \u201cWe are trying to treat around 45 percent of HIV cases with limited resources. The rest, we don’t know their whereabouts. Maybe they died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power cuts have also caused interruptions to the oxygen supply at Ayder that have killed dozens of people since the start of the war. The health centre\u2019s oxygen plant has caught fire twice in the last month because staff aren\u2019t able to maintain it due to a lack of spare parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are pushing it too hard,\u201d said another doctor. \u201cSometimes it stops for a few weeks, and when that happens we have to beg for oxygen from factories in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital\u2019s life support machines are backed up by a generator, but on several occasions, nurses \u2013 and sometimes even the relatives of patients \u2013 have had to operate breathing apparatus \u201cwith their own hands\u201d due to power outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen this happens, most of the time they die,\u201d said the doctor. \u201cIt is very traumatic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018We are trying to do our best to serve our patients with what we have available, but things<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32,81],"class_list":["post-14222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-english","tag-the-new-humanitarian"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",1230,687,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",300,168,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",640,357,false],"large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",640,357,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",1230,687,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",1230,687,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",825,461,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94.png",590,330,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94-300x300.png",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94-600x335.png",600,335,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-94-100x100.png",100,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Axumawian Media"]},"category_info":"Article<\/a>","tag_info":"Article","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14225,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14222\/revisions\/14225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}